Study provides snapshot of hospital-acquired conditions

Abstract

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections appear to be the most frequent hospital-acquired condition that Medicare no longer pays hospitals to treat, according to a recent case study. The study’s author—the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services—acknowledged that the results of its evaluation of one week’s worth of hospital discharges in two counties in August 2008, before the change to the payment system, do not describe the national situation. But, OIG added, the instances of harm from the medical care provided to the study’s 278 Medicare beneficiaries “substantiate concerns about the incidence of adverse events in hospitals and the importance of safety initiatives to reduce occurrences.” Nearly 1% of the patients in OIG’s study had what the National Quality Forum calls a serious reportable event, also known as a never event. This type of adverse event is not necessarily a hospital-acquired condition.