Cartersville Hospital To Lose 1 Percent of Medicare Payments

A local hospital is among hundreds that will lose a portion of its Medicare payments due to having a high rates of infections and patient injuries.

According to Kaiser Health News, Cartersville Medical Center is among 721 hospitals that will lose 1 percent of funding from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2015.

The penalties stem from the Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program, a national effort to reduce complications or infections patients may pick up while hospitalized. The penalty total $373 million.

To determine penalties, Medicare evaluated three types of hospital-acquired conditions: central-line associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and serious complications (which is based on eight types of injuries, including blood clots, bed sores and falls).

To determine penalties, Medicare ranked hospitals on a score of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst, for three aforementioned type of conditions. Cartersville Medical Center ranked 9 for serious complications, 10 for central-line associated blood stream infections and 7 for catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

By comparison, Rome hospitals Floyd Medical Center and Redmond Regional Medical Center, Gordon Hospital in Calhoun and Northside Hospital-Cherokee in Canton escaped penalties.

However, three Emory University hospitals (Emory University Hospital, Emory University Hospital-Midtown and Emory-Adventist Hospital), Grady Memorial Hospital, Piedmont Hospital, WellStar Kennestone Hospital and Atlanta Medical Center were all hit with penalties.

Cartersville Medical Center Director of Marketing and Public Relations Ginger Tyra told The Daily Tribune News the company has taken “significant steps to reduce infections, which are an issue for hospitals across the country.”

“We are pleased that our most recent data shows improvement and we attribute this to daily patient rounding focused on timely removals of lines and catheters, standardization of equipment and reducing variability by using evidence based practices,” she said. “With all quality improvement efforts, we know it is a continual process and we remain vigilant.”

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