Three Hawaii Hospitals Penalized by Feds
Maui Memorial Medical Center, Pali Momi Medical Center and Wahiawa General Hospital will be docked Medicare payments for safety concerns.
The federal government is punishing three Hawaii hospitals for having high rates of avoidable infections.
Maui Memorial Medical Center, Pali Momi Medical Center and Wahiawa General Hospital were among that will be docked 1 percent of Medicare payments in 2016.
The three Hawaii hospitals were among the of all hospitals in the country when it comes to reducing hospital-acquired infections.聽Maui Memorial had the highest rates of preventable conditions.
Brandt Farias, the vice president of marketing at Hawaii Pacific Health, said Pali Momi has made changes to reduce the rates of hospital-acquired conditions and would not be subject to the penalty based on current data. 聽However, the government analyzed data from 2012 through 2014.
The penalties are based on the government鈥檚 assessment of several conditions such as hip fractures, bedsores, infections caused by surgeries and catheters.
Medicare estimates the penalties will cost hospitals $364 million nationwide. This is the second year of the , mandated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
The sanctions are the toughest Medicare has enforced on hospital safety.听听
