WASHINGTON (AP) — Tennessee hospitals seem happy with new guidelines outlining the way the federal government pays for Medicare patients, but Tennessee’s doctors are expressing concerns.
Under the new rules, doctors and hospitals can be punished financially if the cost for caring for a patient gets too high. If a patient, picks up an infection requiring additional care while in the hospital, the hospital and doctor could lose money on the case.
Craig Becker with the Tennessee Hospital Association says his members are OK with the changes. He says they’ve been working hard on issues like hospital infections.
“We’ve had an initiative going on for about the last five years to try to get these things in alignment, and frankly, our hospital acquired infecitons are much, much better now than they were five years ago.”
The Tennessee Medical Association is less enthusiastic about the new regulations. Dr. Chris Young, is a past president of the association. He says doctors are concerned that reports used to rate a doctor’s performance aren’t as detailed as they should be.
“We’re working very closely with TennCare and the insurers to improve the quality of those reports. So we’re not rejecting it. It’s a matter of, ‘This is hard to do and we’re trying to make it better.’”
Tennessee’s doctors and hospitals will have plenty of time to adjust to the new payment system. The federal government is phasing its so-called “quality care” initiative over several years.