Portales hospital penalized by Medicare

Roosevelt General Hospital is one of 32 short-term, acute care hospitals in New Mexico that will be penalized for what Medicare calls “avoidable” Hospital Acquired Conditions (HAC), according to an RGH press release.

The release said an annual Medicare report was released Thursday, stating that out of the 40 short-term, acute care hospitals in New Mexico, 32 of them, RGH among them, would be penalized for conditions, which include things like hospitals acquired infections, blood clots, bed sores and falls.

But RGH officials assured the public in their press release that the report was based on out-dated information with the audit having been conducted from 2011 to 2013.

“Roosevelt General Hospital takes the safety and quality of care very seriously. Safety is our number one priority and the quality of care is a very close second,” Chief Operating Officer Anne Carey said in the release. “We are proud of the fact that from October 2013 to present day, RGH has had no hospital-acquired conditions.”

Medicare penalized RGH and 31 other hospitals by reducing Medicare payments by 1 percent in the 2014 fiscal year.

Director of Marketing Greg McFarland said he did not know the financial impact in dollars.

He said the penalty the hospital received is based on a point system ranging from one to 10.

“The accumulative score of each hospital comes from a system that factors in several types of hospital acquired conditions, such as blood clots, falls, and bed sores. These occurrences are plugged into a system that generates a score for each hospital,” McFarland said.

“Any hospital that received a score of seven or higher was penalized for the 2011-2013 audit. Since October 2013, Roosevelt General Hospital has had no HACs or HAIs (Healthcare-Associated Infections). The penalty that we are facing in no way reflects the current standard of safety and care at RGH.”

McFarland said RGH received a score of eight in the grading system.

“It (the report) also assumes that all infections and complications are totally preventable; they are not. Safety is our first priority and our safety and quality record over the past two years is outstanding,” Chief Executive Officer Larry Leaming said in the press release. “Our staff works diligently every day to provide the highest quality of health care. We are constantly seeking to improve on everything we do.