Hospital & Doctor Responsibility is Key to Managing Healthcare Cost and Improving People's Health

Individual responsibility is critical to controlling healthas well. This level of responsibility advances the
care costs and improving individual health andcause of all, including the best hospitals and
health care and neither hospitals nor physicians aredoctors.
exempt. A recent Wall Street Journal articleAccording to the 10th Annual HealthGrades
reported that insurers will no longer pay for careHospital Quality in America Study, the good news
resulting from serious doctor or hospital careis patients, on average, have a 71% lower chance
errors. Hospitals would not be allowed to balanceof dying at the nation's top-rated hospitals
bill patients for such services. The article went oncompared to the lowest-rated hospitals. This
to report that Medicare, too, will no longer pay forstudy is based on 18 procedures and conditions
care from objects left after surgery, surgical siteanalyzed. The study includes a review of patient
infections, blood incompatibility, urinary-tractoutcomes ranging from heart attacks to
infections from catheter, bedsores, and falls in thepneumonia at 5,000 hospitals and covers more
hospital. In other words, insurers want the hospitalthan 41 million Medicare hospitalization records
to be responsible and accountable for the cost ofover the years 2004 to 2006. Unfortunately, it
hospital errors and deficient care.illustrates and illuminates a significant variation in
Patient safety is very important. Based on aquality among the best and poorest performing
study conducted by HealthGrades Inc. of 37 millionhospitals.
patient records, nearly 195,000 people in the U.S.HealthGrades offers, free to consumers, quality
die each year as a result of potentially avoidableratings of 28 procedures and treatments for
medical errors. Samantha Collier, MD, Vicevirtually every hospital in the country. The
President of Medical Affairs at HealthGrades Inc,Leapfrog Group is another organization dedicated
noted that if the Center of Disease Controlto reducing preventable medical mistakes and
included medical errors on its annual list of leadingimproving the quality and affordability of
causes of death, it would show up sixth-ahead ofhealthcare.
diabetes, pneumonia, Alzheimer's and renal disease.Reporting the problem and identifying the
Such medical errors resulting in death adds overopportunities for improvement are the first steps.
$19 billion in additional health care cost and thisTaking the opportunity to align financial payment
cost does not include the additional expense ofwith performance and requiring accountability is
non-fatal medical errors.one current improvement being led by the
It is our individual responsibility to assess themarket. It should be noted that Medicare's
quality of the physicians and hospitals we attendleadership in this regard is positive for an
before we utilize their services. It is also importantempowered and balanced health care marketplace.
to pay attention while receiving these treatments