July 30, 2008

Live 90-Minute Audio Conference
Scheduled for Thursday, August 21, 2008 from 
1:30-3:00 pm ET 

Contact: Rebecca Stodolak
Phone:    800-516-4343

MANASQUAN, NJ -- July 30, 2008: CMS launched its Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HAC) initiative in October 2007.  This coming October, Medicare will expand the current list of eight HAC to 17 preventable errors that will no longer be paid for.  According to the National Quality Forum (NQF), “never events” are errors in medical care that are clearly identifiable, preventable, and serious in their consequences for patients, and that indicate a real problem in the safety and credibility of a health care facility.  These include medication errors, poor communication between doctor and patient, falls and infections, and surgical errors.

In a relatively short period of time, private insurers and states are following suit by not paying for certain medical errors.  

Some argue that Medicare has taken on conditions that might be largely—though not always—preventable. Some hospitals and others are concerned that the new strategy could drive up medical costs as hospitals absorb or pass on the expense of introducing the safety and screening procedures needed to help avoid mistakes.  The American Medical Association recently argued that the new CMS rules threaten to increase the practice of defense medicine and will ultimately expose physicians to additional lawsuits. But others argue the efforts will trigger safety improvements and savings for patients.  

Hospitals now must explore innovative programs to prevent injury and infection.  What can hospitals do to reduce these no-pay events?

Join the Managed Care Information Center and three industry leaders for “Never Events: Reducing Preventable Errors and Their Impact,” scheduled for Thursday, August 21, 2008 from 1:30 – 3:00 PM EDT. 

Dr. Richard Bankowitz VP & Medical Director for Healthcare Informatics Premier Inc., Mike Reno VP & Co-chair of the Patient Safety and Quality Committee St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (Houston, TX), James Parish EVP, Performance
RWD Technologies will be discussing such topics as:

• The CMS mandate and growing list of "preventable errors" they will no longer pay for 
• How hospitals can minimize preventable errors
• The quality incentives CMS is offering to participating hospital administrators
• How  hospitals are impacted by current regulations
• Possible solutions to specific errors, such as post-surgical infection
• What C-level hospital administrators should know about where the CMS mandate is likely to grow
• Future implications for hospitals
• Compliance/regulatory implication issues and ramifications
• Case Study:  St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital  
• How they are eliminating errors and receiving quality initiatives
• How hospital network participants are proactively dealing with the mandate
• Live question and answer session