Local hospitals penalized by Medicare

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - Five local hospitals are being penalized by Medicare and it’s going to cost them money as a result.

The following hospitals made a list for patient safety penalties handed down by Medicare:

Piedmont Columbus Regional - Columbus
St. Francis-Emory Healthcare - Columbus
Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital - Phenix City
Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center - LaGrange
Medical Center Barbour - Eufaula

As a result, Medicare will dock their payments to these facilities by 1%. Penalties are assessed to the top quarter of hospitals in the nation with hospital-acquired conditions. This means a patient acquired illness or injury from being in the hospital. Kaiser Health News tracks this reporting.

St. Francis-Emory Healthcare issued a statement in response to the penalty:

“St. Francis-Emory Healthcare is committed to delivering safe, high quality care and ensuring that our patients and their families have positive experiences at our hospital. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the latest data from the Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC) Reduction Program, which encourages hospitals to improve patients’ safety and implement best practices to reduce their rates of infections associated with healthcare and links Medicare payments to healthcare quality.”
“We are dedicated to constant improvement. As part of our ongoing efforts, we are reviewing this data from CMS, along with our internal metrics and other public reporting systems, so we can identify opportunities to further enhance patient safety. It is important to us that our hospital is a place where people choose to come for care, and we consider it a privilege to serve the healthcare needs of our community. We will continue monitoring our progress and exploring new ways to improve our overall healthcare delivery and our patients’ experiences.”

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