- Pg. 280 - Hospitals will be penalized for not maintaining a proper discharge to readmittance ratio with patients. Aka if you get out, and you need back in, the hospital won't be paid in full for your first stay. "With respect to payment for discharges from an applicable hospital [...] in order to account for excess readmissions in the hospital, the Secretary shall reduce the payments that would otherwise be made to such hospital."
- Pg. 298 - Doctors may be penalized for treating patients who return for re treatment within one week. "The Secretary will consider approaches such as [...] (C) applying a payment reduction for physicians who treat the patient during the initial admission that results in a readmission."
Lolly: The logic behind these sections of the Bill almost makes me laugh. Rather than relying on the professional judgement of doctors and nurses in conjunction with the wishes of the patient... the Government is going to step in like an all-knowing parent with the ability to ground said professionals if their decisions don't pan out. WHAT??! Not only does this undermine the 8-10+ years of education that doctors must go through, but it could result in the denial of care to people with recurring medical problems. What hospital will want to treat a patient that could cost them money due to a reduced reimbursement from the Government plan? In fact, on Pg. 288 Section 7 the Bill anticipates needing to impose sanctions on hospitals that "have taken steps to avoid patients at risk [to reduce] readmissions." Just what we need - more red tape.
Finally, terminally ill patients often request discharge to quality time with family in their last days. This section makes doctors and hospitals choose between respecting the wishes of their patients and being paid for the work that they do.
No surprise that my verdict is SOUR. That is, unless you have the magical ability to heal the first time, every time.
