Others payors may follow CMS's decision to cease payment for hospital errors

Following on from the announcement last month that Medicare will cease payment for certain preventable hospital errors by 2008, FierceHealthcare reports that CMS’s decision could be just the beginning. With Medicare leading the way, Medicaid is likely to quickly follow, as are private payors. In Pennsylvania, for example, where error reduction is a major part of the state’s reform efforts, officials already are saying Medicare’s decision could trigger changes in their Medicaid program’s payment policy. And private health plans, already under pressure from some employers not to cover preventable illness, will have a good excuse to follow suit.