Nearly a dozen New Mexico hospitals will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicare payments because of hospital-acquired infections.
11 New Mexico hospitals are among more than 700 nationwide that have been hit with penalties for high rates of certain conditions brought on during hospitalization.
According to Kaiser Health News and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, hospitals will see a 1 percent loss in reimbursements for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.
The penalized hospitals include Presbyterian and University of New Mexico hospitals in Albuquerque.
Presbyterian Healthcare Services says it expects a payment loss of $900,000.
Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare can cut payments based on issues such as frequency of infections caused by hospital equipment.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
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