See attachments below for reading assignment, assignment instructions, required website. I’ve also attached a news article from the Huffington Post. This assignment will be due on April 1st, 2019 by 10pm EST.
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week__5_assignment_instructions.png
week__5_reading_assignment.png
week__5___required_article__half_of_nation.docx
week__5___required_website.docx
week__5_news_articles.docx
huffington_post_news_article_2014.docx
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Half Of Nation’s Hospitals Fail Again
To Escape Medicare’s Readmission
Penalties
By Jordan Rau AUGUST 3, 2015
REPUBLISH THIS STORY
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Once again, the majority of the nation’s hospitals are being penalized by Medicare for
having patients frequently return within a month of discharge — this time losing a
combined $420 million, government records show.
In the fourth year of federal readmission penalties, 2,592 hospitals will receive lower
payments for every Medicare patient that stays in the hospital — readmitted or not —
starting in October. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, created by the
Affordable Care Act, was designed to make hospitals pay closer attention to what
happens to their patients after they get discharged.
Illustration by Andrew Villegas/istockphoto
Since the fines began, national readmission rates have dropped, but roughly one of
every five Medicare patients sent to the hospital ends up returning within a month.
Some hospitals view the punishments as unfair because they can lose money even if they
had fewer readmissions than they did in previous years. All but 209 of the hospitals
penalized in this round were also punished last year, a Kaiser Health News analysis of
the records found.
GET THE DATA
MEDICARE HOSPITAL PENALTIES YEARS 1 TO 4
Medicare is penalizing hospitals that see patients return to the hospital too soon after
being discharged. Medicare reduces what it pays each hospital per patient, per stay.
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Medicare Readmission Penalties By Hospital
(.csv)
Medicare Readmission Penalties By Hospital
(.pdf)
Medicare Readmission Penalties By State (.csv)
Medicare Readmission Penalties By State (.pdf)
The fines are based on readmissions between July 2011 and June 2014 and include
Medicare patients who were originally hospitalized for one of five conditions: heart
attack, heart failure, pneumonia, chronic lung problems or elective hip or knee
replacements. For each hospital, Medicare determined what it thought the appropriate
number of readmissions should be based on the mix of patients and how the hospital
industry performed overall. If the number of readmissions was above that projection,
Medicare fined the hospital.
The fines will be applied to Medicare payments when the federal fiscal year begins in
October. In this round, the average Medicare payment reduction is 0.61 percent per
patient stay, but 38 hospitals will receive the maximum cut of 3 percent, the KHN
analysis shows. A total of 506 hospitals, including those facing the maximum penalty,
will lose 1 percent of their Medicare payments or more.
Overall, Medicare’s punishments are slightly less severe than they were last year, both in
the amount of the average fine and the number of hospitals penalized. Still, they will be
assessed on hospitals in every state except Maryland, which is exempt from these
penalties because it has a special payment arrangement with Medicare.
USE OUR CONTENT
This KHN story can be republished for free (details).
These lower payments will affect three-quarters of hospitals or more in Alabama,
Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South
Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia. KHN found that fewer than a quarter of
hospitals face punishments in Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota
and South Dakota.
REPUBLICATION NOTE
The readmission data in this story and charts is assembled, interpreted and analyzed by
KHN using five files from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. KHN’s
data is free to republish and should be credited to Kaiser Health News or Kaiser Health
News and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. KHN’s republishing rules
can be found here.
Most of the 2,232 hospitals spared penalties this year were excused not because
Medicare found readmissions to be sufficiently infrequent, but because they were
automatically exempted from being evaluated — either because they specialized in
certain types of patients, such as veterans or children, because they were specially
designated “critical access” hospitals, or because they had too few cases for Medicare to
accurately assess.
The readmission penalties are not the only fines hospitals face this year. As it did last
year, Medicare is also giving out bonuses and penalties based on a variety of quality
measures. The government has not yet announced those, but they also begin in October.
Those financial incentives will total about $1.5 billon. Medicare will also punish
hospitals with high rates of infections and other avoidable occurrences of patient harm.
The KHN analysis found that four hospitals have received the maximum readmission
penalty every year. Two are in Kentucky: Harlan ARH Hospital, which is in the heart of
the Appalachian coalfields, and Monroe County Medical Center in Tompkinsville. The
other hospitals are the Livingston, Tenn., Regional Hospital — also in Appalachia — and
Franklin Medical Center in Winnsboro, La. None of the hospitals immediately returned
phone calls Monday.
Hospitals have been lobbying both Medicare and Congress to take into account the
socio-economic background of patients when assessing readmission penalties. They
argue that some factors for readmissions — such as whether patients can afford
medications or healthy food — are beyond their control.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress, has
recommended altering the readmission penalties. The National Quality Forum, a
nonprofit that Medicare looks to when creating quality metrics, is examining whether
socio-economic factors should be included when calculating readmission measurements
as well as other barometers of hospital quality. But that experiment will take two years
to complete.
“Hospitals should not be penalized simply because of the demographic characteristics of
their patients,” Sens. Joseph Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) wrote
last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The senators
have introduced a bill to consider socio-economic factors when calculating the penalties.
Their essay, co-written by Dr. Andrew Boozary, a health policy analyst, pointed to a
study that found safety-net hospitals were nearly 60 percent more likely than other
hospitals to have been penalized in all of the first three years of the penalties. Hospitals
with the lowest profit margins were 36 percent more likely to be penalized than those in
better financial shape, the essay said.
In regulations released Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reiterated
that it would not unilaterally make such changes in the program, noting that some
safety-net hospitals have been able to keep their readmission rates low.
“While we appreciate these comments and the importance of the role that
sociodemographic status plays in the care of patients,” the agency wrote in the rule, “we
continue to have concerns about holding hospitals to different standards for the
outcomes of their patients of low sociodemographic status because we do not want to
mask potential disparities or minimize incentives to improve the outcomes of
disadvantaged populations.”
KHN’s coverage of aging and long term care issues is supported in part by a grant
from The SCAN Foundation.
Medicare Readmission Penalties By State, Year 4
Medicare evaluated the readmission rates of the nation’s hospitals in determining the fourth year of penalties in the
Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Medicare will apply the penalties to all its payments for patient stays
between Oct. 1, 2015, and Sept. 30, 2016. In this chart, the first column after the state name shows the total number
of hospitals penalized in each state. That is followed by the percent of each state’s hospitals that were penalized.
That calculation includes hospitals exempted from the fines, such as those serving veterans and children. The final
column shows the average penalty for penalized hospitals. *The penalties do not apply to Maryland hospitals, as that
state has a unique reimbursement arrangement with Medicare, and thus Maryland is not included in this table.
State Name
Alabama
Number of
Penalized
Hospitals
Percent of All
Hospitals
Penalized
Average
Hospital Penalty
(Percent)
72
79
0.61
Alaska
7
33
0.44
Arizona
49
62
0.48
Arkansas
41
53
0.83
California
224
65
0.4
Colorado
25
32
0.29
State Name
Connecticut
Number of
Penalized
Hospitals
Percent of All
Hospitals
Penalized
Average
Hospital Penalty
(Percent)
28
90
0.66
Delaware
5
71
0.35
District of Columbia
7
78
0.77
Florida
154
81
0.67
Georgia
89
67
0.47
Hawaii
10
56
0.33
4
10
0.58
Illinois
113
62
0.72
Indiana
64
51
0.59
Iowa
25
21
0.62
Kansas
32
24
0.44
Kentucky
62
65
1.19
Louisiana
66
55
0.68
Maine
11
31
0.4
Massachusetts
51
78
0.70
Michigan
69
50
0.64
Minnesota
39
30
0.37
Mississippi
54
55
0.61
Missouri
67
61
0.71
Montana
5
9
0.70
2,592
54
0.61
14
15
0.39
Idaho
NATIONAL
Nebraska
State Name
Number of
Penalized
Hospitals
Percent of All
Hospitals
Penalized
Average
Hospital Penalty
(Percent)
Nevada
20
56
0.57
New Hampshire
11
42
0.45
New Jersey
63
97
0.73
New Mexico
18
43
0.37
140
77
0.75
North Carolina
76
68
0.56
North Dakota
3
7
0.14
109
64
0.71
Oklahoma
63
50
0.55
Oregon
21
34
0.32
Pennsylvania
128
74
0.61
Rhode Island
9
75
0.63
South Carolina
47
75
0.57
South Dakota
8
15
0.66
78
70
0.64
Texas
203
54
0.53
Utah
16
35
0.53
Vermont
4
27
0.08
Virginia
68
80
1.01
Washington
36
39
0.37
West Virginia
27
52
0.99
Wisconsin
49
39
0.38
New York
Ohio
Tennessee
State Name
Wyoming
Number of
Penalized
Hospitals
Percent of All
Hospitals
Penalized
8
Average
Hospital Penalty
(Percent)
29
Source: Kaiser Health News analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Get the data
0.37
Required Website
Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2016). Ready: Prepare. Plan. Stay informed.
Retrieved from https://www.ready.gov/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external
site.
http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2014/08/11/flooding-submerges-dozens-of-cars-closes-highwaysimpedes-firefighters-in-detroit/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/12/detroit-flooding-michigan-freewaysphotos_n_5671147.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/detroit-flooding-michigan-freeways-photos_n_5671147
ENVIRONMENT
08/12/2014 11:12 am ET Updated Dec 06, 2017
Record Flood Fills Detroit Freeways As
Drivers Abandon Their Cars
By Kate Abbey-Lambertz
Detroit was pummeled with torrents of record-breaking rain Monday evening, stranding drivers
on flooded freeways and leaving one dead.
The city received 4.57 inches of rain Monday, Detroit’s second highest on record following a
rainfall of 4.74 inches in 1925, according to the National Weather Service. Some communities
received more than 6 inches of rain. In contrast, the average rainfall for all of August is just 3
inches.
A stranded motorist sits on top his car as he awaits rescue from the flooded Southfield Freeway, Monday,
Aug. 11, 2014, in Dearborn, Mich. AP Photo by Carlos Osorio.
Rain fell throughout the day, but during afternoon commuting hours it filled local freeways.
Water reached heights of 14 feet on certain roadways, according to the Detroit News, forcing
some drivers to abandon their cars and prompting the Michigan State Police to send divers to
look at the freeways.
Water floods the intersection of Interstates 75 and 696 in Hazel Park, Mich., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. AP
Photo by Carlos Osorio.
One woman died of possible cardiac arrest when she got stuck in the storm, Warren, Mich.
Mayor Jim Fouts told WWJ. Several hundred people in Warren were stranded in a parking lot
and needed to be rescued by emergency teams, according to the Macomb Daily. Fouts told the
paper that he may ask Gov. Rick Snyder to send in the National Guard.
Stranded motorists look over flooded vehicles, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, in Dearborn, Mich. AP Photo by
Carlos Osorio.
Snyder told WWJ Tuesday that authorities were prepared for the event and were taking
immediate action.
“We’ve activated the State Emergency Operation Center, we’ve sent in three additional squads
of Michigan State Police to help motorists,” he told the station. “MDOT has already gone to
emergency procedures, we’re getting additional contracting recourses in, putting emergency
pumps in and we have backhoes going to help remove mud. We’ve taking a dramatic series of
action already without waiting for declarations.”
Cars are stranded along a flooded stretch of Interstate 75 in Hazel Park, Mich., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014.
AP Photo by Carlos Osorio.
On Tuesday morning, some freeways around the Detroit area were still closed due to weather.
Many residents were left with flooded basements.
Water floods the intersection of Interstates 75 and 696 in Hazel Park, Mich., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. AP
Photo by Carlos Osorio.
According to the Free Press, part of why the floods were so damaging is how much rain fell in a
short period, 3 inches between 5 and 8 p.m. There was too much water to drain as normal, and
freeways’ pump stations became overloaded, according to WDIV-TV.
Cars are stranded along a flooded stretch of Interstate 75 in Hazel Park, Mich., Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014.
AP Photo by Carlos Osorio.
One of the most gripping accounts of the storm comes from WXYZ, which shared a reader video
of rain filling a public bus. News outlets and residents, many who had to continue commuting
through the backed-up freeways, also shared photos and videos of the flooding on Reddit,
Twitter and YouTube.
View image on Twitter
The Detroit News
✔@detroitnews
Dive team is checking on interstates 94, 696 and 275 in Metro #Detroit.
http://detne.ws/1kyx9jL #detroitflooding #miwx
25
7:55 AM – Aug 12, 2014
79 people are talking about this
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View image on Twitter
Motor City [email protected]
Flooding submerges dozens of cars, closes highways, impedes firefighters in Detroit
http://goo.gl/8dtLDA
1
7:59 AM – Aug 12, 2014
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View image on Twitter
Motor City [email protected]
Detroit firefighters rescue motorists stranded in flood on I-75 http://goo.gl/8dtLDA
3
10:00 PM – Aug 11, 2014
19 people are talking about this
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@[email protected]
Nabil was just rescued by the Hazel Park FD from his submerged car 75 @ 9 mile
@local4news
6
8:38 PM – Aug 11, 2014
23 people are talking about this
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[email protected]_D_F
@stephenclark – our neighborhood…
1
6:32 PM – Aug 11, 2014
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(Swimming and playing in the water isn’t recommended, as it could contain hazardous material
or raw sewage.)
This New World
The current capitalist system is broken. Get updates on our progress toward building a fairer
world.
SUBSCRIBE
View image on Twitter
WXYZ Detroit
✔@wxyzdetroit
INCREDIBLE flooding photos coming into the newsroom from viewers. GALLERY
HERE: http://bit.ly/1uI0lFy #7FirstAlert
32
9:11 PM – Aug 11, 2014
56 people are talking about this
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Michigan DOT
✔@MichiganDOT
From I-75 looking at I-96. #detroitflood
9
9:31 AM – Aug 12, 2014
33 people are talking about this
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Michigan DOT
✔@MichiganDOT
It isn’t just the water itself that we have to deal with. A lot of debris, mud, abandoned
cars, etc. #detroitflood
13
9:31 AM – Aug 12, 2014
70 people are talking about this
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The forecast calls for more rain Tuesday, though it is not expected to be a repeat of Monday’s
historic storms.
…
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