York County's Memorial Hospital is among 700 nationwide facing Medicare cuts due to low ratings

July 22--A federal review program could reduce Medicare funds to more than 700 hospitals nationwide, including York County'sMemorial Hospital, after preliminary assessments left them with a bad rating.

The Affordable Care Act allows The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to assess hospitals' rates of infections on a scale of 1 to 10, with the higher number representing a greater rate of patient harm, according to a report by Kaiser Health News.

Hospitals with a score above seven can be penalized, forcing them to lose 1 percent of Medicare reimbursement starting Oct. 1 and running through Sept. 30, 2015.

Memorial Hospital rated 9 when preliminary scores were released earlier this year.

The preliminary scores are based on infections found between June 2012 and June 2013, although final scores to be released later this year will look at infections found January 2012 to December 2013.

Medicare looked at eight categories for patient infection and injury, including catheters in major veins and bladders, as well as injuries related to blood clots, bed sores and accidental falls.

The preliminary results do not detail in which categories the hospitals scored, just the overall score.

Jason McSherry, community relations and marketing spokesman with Memorial Hospital, said the hospital regularly works to identify areas that need improvement.

"Our hospital is participating in the Highmark Quality Blue program for healthcare-acquired infections which shares best practices for reducing central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI)," McSherry said in an email. "We had only two CLABSIs in 2012 and one in 2013."

McSherry did not detail the hospital's statistics based on the six other categories in which they are rated.

The hospital also focuses on hourly nurse rounds and regular meetings are used to review current patient needs, he added. The goal of the hospital, he said, is to have zero infections.

The risk of losing 1 percent of Medicare funding "will have an impact on any health care provider," McSherry said. It was not clear as of Sunday how much Medicare funding Memorial Hospital receives each year.

Medicare will reassess the hospitals annually. Although the 1 percent penalty does not change, the criteria will increase.

In October 2014, Medicare will add rates of surgical site infections to its analysis and a year later, will include two types of germs that are resistant to antibiotic treatment, clostridium difficile, known as C. diff, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA.

Contact Rebecca Hanlon at 717-771-2088.

Other ratings in York County

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its preliminary rating of hospitals.

Those in York County received the following rating on a scale from 1 to 10, with the highest number being the worst. Hospitals with a rating of 7 or higher will be penalized.

--Hanover Hospital: 5.225

--Memorial Hospital: 9

--York Hospital: 4.6

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services assessed hospitals in eight categories. Those categories are:

--Central line-associated bloodstream infections: Occur when germs enter the bloodstream through a flexible tube to administer treatments, such as nutritional fluids, chemotherapy or dialysis.

--Catheter associated urinary tract infections: Occur when bacteria or viruses enter the bladder, kidneys, urethra or ureters through catheter.

--Collapsed lung that results from medical treatment

--Blood clots in the lung or a large vein after surgery

--A wound that splits open after surgery

--Accidental cuts and tears

--Bed sores

--Central-line related blood stream infections

--Broken hip from a fall after surgery

--Blood stream infection after surgery

-- Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

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