Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach has been named as one of more than 750 hospitals nationwide now getting penalized for having a high frequency of patient safety incidents. Those incidents include problems like hospital acquired infections and blood clots.
In a statement to WPTV, Jessica Besch of Tenet Health wrote:
We are focused on continually driving improvements in care delivery and safety. We regularly measure our performance and take immediate action to reduce preventable harm. Our medical staff is very engaged in quality improvement initiatives and has implemented several strategies to reduce preventable complications. For example:
- We closely track central-line associated bloodstream infections and have launched a comprehensive unit-based safety initiative project (CUSP) as well as partnering with the state coordinated Hospital Engagement Initiative.
- We maintain a multidisciplinary surgical site infection prevention improvement team, which focuses on the prevention of infections and hospital acquired conditions such as blood clots.
It is also important to note that the publicly reported data used to generate the score is lagging and not reflective of the care we are providing today. Additionally, scoring methods differ by organization and no one rating system alone provides a complete picture of the care provided to patients. Delivering safe, high-quality care is our top priority. We are not satisfied with anything less than exceptional care at any of our hospitals.
As part of the penalty, Good Samaritan Hospital will have its Medicare payments reduced by 1% for the next fiscal year.
These government penalties created several years ago are considered the toughest action the government has taken on hospital safety. Medicare is expected to add different kinds of conditions in the future.
For more information on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program click here.
For more from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services click here.
