New York hospitals rewarded for patient safety

It’s comforting to hear when hospitals are doing a good job. And efforts toward improving patient safety and health should be rewarded. An insurance company is doing just that and recently awarded hospitals in upstate New York extra money in the amount of $26 million.
The reward is part of an incentive program. The program gives money to hospitals that reach the set goals in areas of patient safety, patient satisfaction, efficiency of the hospital and overall outcomes. Surgeon error is obviously something that the program strives to avoid. If patients are injured during a surgery, a New York surgical attorney can help bring a lawsuit against the doctor, hospital or both and this is not what the insurance company wants.
Fifty-four hospitals received money last year under the plan that has been in place since 2004.
Under the incentive program, hospitals must be aware of surgical and care composites. This is important because many hospital contracts are being negotiated. By focusing on composites and measuring outcomes, it is hoped that performance will improve to national levels. The national performance levels are set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Increasingly, patients are using pay for performance health insurance plans. This means that patient satisfaction is becoming more of an issue. Medicare also recently chose to award hospitals, or penalize them, based on patient satisfaction statistics or the rate of readmission. Unfortunately, Medicare penalized many hospitals in Central New York under this system.
Patient satisfaction is important but patient safety is critical. Patients injured by medical procedures or surgeries may have a cause of action against the hospital or doctor. Injured patients can recover money to pay for worsened medical conditions or additional medical bills.