--- title: "Medicare policy on hospital-acquired conditions. | Sutter Health" description: "Medicare stopped reimbursing hospitals for 8 avoidable hospital-acquired conditions. We modeled the financial impact of this policy on six such conditions." url: "https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/medicare-policy-on-hospital-acquired-conditions-1055312578" --- 1. [Home](https://www.sutterhealth.org/) / 2. [Research](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research) / 3. [Research publications](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications) / 4. Medicare policy on hospital-acquired conditions. # Medicare's policy not to pay for treating hospital-acquired conditions: the impact. McNair PD, Luft HS, & Bindman AB. _Health Aff (Millwood). 28(5):1485-93. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.5.1485._ 2009-10-01 ## Abstract In 2008 Medicare stopped reimbursing hospitals for treating eight avoidable hospital-acquired conditions. Using 2006 California data, we modeled the financial impact of this policy on six such conditions. Hospital-acquired conditions were present in 0.11 percent of acute inpatient Medicare discharges; only 3 percent of these were affected by the policy. Payment reductions were negligible (0.001 percent, or $0.1 million-equivalent to $1.1 million nationwide) and are unlikely to encourage providers to improve quality. Options to strengthen the incentives include further payment modifications for hospital-acquired conditions or expanding the hospital-acquired condition policy to exclude payment for consequences, additional procedures, and readmissions. [PubMed abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19738267) ## Research topics - [Health Policy](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?query=%22%5C%22Health+Policy%5C%22%22) ## Related publications [View all publications](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?verticalKey=research_publication) - Publication ### [Advancing public reporting through a new ‘aggregator’ to standardize data collection on providers’ cost and quality](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/standardize-data-collection-provider-cost-quality-1055312612) Luft HS. Health Aff (Millwood). 31(3):619-26. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1162. 2012 Mar 01 - Publication ### [Commentary: Protecting human subjects and their data in multi-site research](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/protecting-human-subjects-their-data-in-research-1055312628) Luft HS. 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J Pharm Policy Pract. 9:26. doi: 10.1186/s40545-016-0079-1. eCollection 2016. 2016 Sep 22 [View all publications](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?verticalKey=research_publication) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org","logo":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/static/images/sutter-health-logo.svg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"2200 River Plaza Drive","addressLocality":"Sacramento","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"95833","addressCountry":"US"},"areaServed":{"@type":"AdministrativeArea","name":"California"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/SutterHealth","https://www.instagram.com/sutterhealth/","https://x.com/SutterHealth","https://www.youtube.com/sutterhealth","https://www.linkedin.com/company/sutter-health","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Health"]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/medicare-policy-on-hospital-acquired-conditions-1055312578#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Research","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Research publications","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Medicare policy on hospital-acquired conditions."}]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalScholarlyArticle","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/medicare-policy-on-hospital-acquired-conditions-1055312578#medicalscholarlyarticle","name":"Medicare's policy not to pay for treating hospital-acquired conditions: the impact.","headline":"Medicare policy on hospital-acquired conditions.","abstract":"In 2008 Medicare stopped reimbursing hospitals for treating eight avoidable hospital-acquired conditions. 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