Sarah Ferris at The Hill.com reports that “more hospitals will be rewarded with bigger payments from Medicare because of improved patient ratings this year, a sign that incentives under Obamacare are helping to improve treatment.”
A total of 1,714 hospitals will receive extra payments from the Federal government this year, compared to 1,375 hospitals with reduced payments because of poor ratings.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services noted in its announcement on December 18 that this is the first time the number of hospitals receiving higher payments will outnumber those penalized for subpar treatment. “This change indicates that many hospitals are improving the quality of care delivered to patients,” the agency said.
Blogfinger Medical Commentary: Paul Goldfinger MD, FACC:
Some you BF readers have denied that Obamacare has any influence on quality of care—-ie it’s just about insurance coverage. Those who say that are fans of the ACA and don’t want any of the quality fallout to land on that law. But in the instance noted above, you can see that Obamacare policies helped to improve treatment.
If you have been a hospital patient or provider of care, or if you know someone in those categories, you know that there is plenty of room for improvement in hospital quality. We have been finding mostly negative impact on overall quality since the ACA regulations are being realized in the trenches of care.
But I know that there are areas of real and potential improvement to be found in the ACA, and those need to be maintained as a new Congress tries to modify ACA provisions. I doubt that efforts to repeal the law will succeed, but changes for the better will be implemented.
Thanks Carol. I think that some of what you describe are nobel in the design, but must currently be considered works in progress. –Paul
Paul… Quality improvements,such as computerized physician order entry, medication reconciliation (barcode scanning of meds against patient bracelets,)lower readmission rates (hospitals don’t get paid if there is a readmit within 30 days due to something that was or was not done as part of the course of treatment) and the like are all part of the insurance reform and were necessary to get the insurers onside and reduce Medicare costs.
There are other meaningful use initiatives like this that are driving older physicians “batty” but are all part of the effort to reduce cost by improving outcomes and keeping people from getting chronically sick.