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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2006;296:1958.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A new report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has found that Medicare pays hospitals more than $300 million per year for treating adverse events, but the payments cover less than one third of additional costs incurred by hospitals in treating these events (Zhan C et al. Health Aff [Millwood]. 2006;25:1386-1393).

Specifically, the study found that in the 5 types of adverse events identifiable in Medicare claims, Medicare's extra payments range from about $700 per case of decubitus ulcer (bed sores) to $9000 per case of postoperative sepsis.

Under Medicare's payment system, hospitals are reimbursed a specific amount for a patient's condition or diagnosis-related group. The study found the diagnosis-related group changed in only a small number of cases—for example, in 1% of cases where a patient had postoperative bloodstream infections and in 10% of cases in which a patient experienced postoperative bleeding. The . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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