Oregon Hospitals Agree To Non-Payment
The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems Board adopted a resolution which calls for statewide non-payment for adverse events. The text of the resolution was posted on the Association’s website.
The hospitals across the State committed to not seeking payment for the costs associated with occurrence of adverse events in the case that the events were both preventable and within the control of the hospital. This new resolution was considered an extension of the commitment of the hospitals in Oregon to deliver the safest care possible.
Payment will not be sought if an adverse event causes an increased level of care, significant intervention, or extends the length of stay in the hospital. As well, new procedures to correct previous procedures will not be charged nor those procedures that were performed without warrant. New or re-admissions to the facility associated with previous adverse events will, likewise, not be billed.
A specific list of adverse events for which billing will not be completed was included. Some of those events include wrong site surgery, performance of the wrong surgical procedure, retaining a foreign object in a patient following a procedure, death associated with contaminated materials, discharge of a newborn with the wrong parents, patient injury associated with a medication error, administration of incompatible blood products, stage 3 and 4 pressure ulcers, electrical shock, patient death attributed to a fall within a hospital, and injury or death from electrical shock among other adverse occurrences.
February 27, 2008 Related topics: Partnerships & Consortia