Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois recently proclaimed plans to end reimbursements to hospitals for discussion that results from serious medical errors, the Chicago Tribune reports. BCBS Illinois spokesperson Jack Segal aforementioned that the health plan has non finalized a list of serious medical errors included under the policy. He said, "The majority of hospitals do not broadside us for never events, but given the complexness of billing, billing systems and charge agencies, some never events may slip through," adding, "With this new policy in space, we can work to close the gaps, and also focus on improving quality."
Elena Butkus -- vice president of finance for the Illinois Hospital Association, which represents about cc hospitals in the land -- aforesaid the group supports the policy. She said, "We are committed that patients and payers not pay for caution related to a ne'er event that was within the hospital's control and preventable." However, she embossed concerns that the policy might include treatment for some atmospheric condition not "under the hospital's control to begin with," such as certain infections commonly acquired in hospitals that patients might give contracted before they arrived.
Industrywide Trend
According to the Tribune, BCBS Illinois announced the policy as part of an "industrywide shift toward more consumer-friendly practices," based on the "idea ... that forcing hospitals to absorb those costs will create an incentive to ameliorate quality of care in a business where money typically rolls in careless of affected role outcomes" and where patients "often feel lost in a complex, impersonal system" (Japsen, Chicago Tribune, 8/7).
In August 2007, CMS announced that as of Oct. 1 Medicare no thirster will recoup hospitals for the treatment of certain "conditions that could pretty have been prevented," and that the facilities "cannot bill the beneficiary for any charges associated with the hospital-acquired complication" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/1). CMS last month announced additions to a list of preventable conditions for which Medicare will no yearner pay hospitals to handle (Graham, "Triage," Chicago Tribune, 8/7).
In plus, some private health insurers, such as Aetna, have begun to end reimbursements to hospitals for treatment that results from life-threatening medical errors (Chicago Tribune, 8/7).
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