20 NYC Hospitals Punished For Patient Injuries, Infections

NEW YORK, NY — It hasn't been a good year for New York City hospitals. The federal government recently announced that many of the city's largest healthcare providers will be punished due to high rates of patient injuries and infections.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is docking payments to 20 New York City hospitals under the Hospital Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, according to data released by the agency. Each hospital will incur a 1 percent reduction in Medicare payments from October 2017 to September 2018, according to the federal agency.

The Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program was established in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act. The goal of the program is to cut down on Hospital Acquired Conditions — when a patient gets injured or sick during their hospital stay — by punishing hospitals that finish in the worst 25 percent in the rate of patient injuries and sicknesses, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The New York City hospitals that received penalties for 2018 are listed below:

1. Bellevue Hospital Center (Manhattan)
2. Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center (Bronx)
3. Brookdale Hospital Medical Center (Brooklyn)
4. Coney Island Hospital (Brooklyn)
5. Elmhurst Hospital Center (Queens)
6. Flushing Hospital Medical Center (Queens)
7. Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (Queens)
8. Kings County Hospital Center (Brooklyn)
9. Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center (Brooklyn)
10. Lenox Hill Hospital (Manhattan)
11. Montefiore Medical Center (Bronx)
12. Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)
13. New York-Presbyterian/Queens (Queens)
14. NYU Hospitals Center (Manhattan)
15. Richmond University Medical Center (Staten Island)
16. Rockefeller University Hospital (Manhattan)
17. St John's Episcopal Hospital At South Shore (Queens)
18. Staten Island University Hospital (Staten Island)
19. SUNY Downstate Medical Center (Brooklyn)
20. Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (Brooklyn)

Only two of the hospitals that were penalized — Bellevue Hospital Center and Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center — avoided punishment last year. The New York City hospitals represented nearly one-third of the state's total number of penalized hospitals (64).

In total, 751 hospitals nationwide were penalized under the Hospital Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program. Check out the complete list here.

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