Hospitals define when they should pay for medical mistakes
Published June 2, 2008 by CSBJ Staff
The Colorado Hospital Association has developed guidelines to help create payment policies for medical mistakes.
The guidelines suggest that hospitals should adjust charges for services related to 28 serious, preventable events as defined by the National Quality Forum.
The mistakes fall into six categories: surgical, product or device, patient protection, care management, environmental and criminal.
If a mistake results in increased hospital stay, level or care or significant intervention, the hospital should separate those charges and make adjustments to the patient’s bill, and if a patient has to go back into the hospital to be treated for the mistake, there should be no charge for the additional stay.
For a list of the medical mistakes covered by the guidelines, visit www.cha.com.
Filed under CSBJ Daily, Health Care