News From DARK Daily

Medicare's Policy of Not Reimbursing for Medical Errors Will Boost Lean/Six Sigma

News that The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will cease paying for medical errors, effective October 1, 2007, has caused a stir, particularly among hospital administrators. Medicare officials have identified eight specific conditions for which there will not be additional reimburse, arguing that these conditions would not have occurred if staff at the hospital had followed appropriate care guidelines, along with taking common-sense precautions.

Dark Daily predicts this will be a watershed decision for the American healthcare system, for several reasons. First, policies established by Medicare are often adopted by private payers. Certainly private payers have equal motivations to cease paying hospitals additional reimbursement to treat complications on a case caused by medical errors or lack of common sense attention to the patient.

Second, if it is not appropriate to pay hospitals for the eight specific conditions listed by Medicare, how long will it take for Medicare and private payers to expand that list? All of us who work in healthcare know how often medical errors and treatment oversights occur. Medicare's policy decision on these eight conditions is the start of a major shift toward significantly different coverage and payment policies.

Third, Medicare's goal with this new policy is to motivate physicians and hospital staff to incorporate a higher awareness of medical errors into their daily activities. Dark Daily believes that this higher attention will feed another trend: increased use of Lean, Six Sigma and other management techniques by hospitals, physicians, laboratories, and other providers.

Why? Because Lean/Six Sigma and similar management approaches have a demonstrated track record for reducing errors in manufacturing and the service industry. Over the past decade, healthcare's early adopters have demonstrated that these quality tools work with equal effectiveness in all aspects of medical care. At the core of this new management paradigm is "System of Prevention"-the objective of designing overall workflow and individual work processes to only generate a positive outcome.

Hospitals, faced with Medicare's new dictum of new reimbursement for selected conditions that can be attributed to a medical error or a failure to provide common sense support to the patient, will turn to Lean and Six Sigma because of its demonstrated ability to eliminate the source of errors in medical care and support services provided to the patient.

That is likely to be one reason why enrollment in the upcoming Lab Quality Confab on Quality Management in Diagnostic Medicine, to be held in Atlanta on September 19-20, 2007, is surging ahead of predictions, particularly since news of the new Medicare policy became public. Lab Quality Confab is the laboratory industry's first major conference on Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement. It features 50 sessions with speakers sharing information about the success their hospital, laboratory, or pathology group is having with Lean and Six Sigma.

With this significant policy shift by Medicare about to take effect, your hospital or laboratory should have someone at Lab Quality Confab! It is your perfect opportunity to access expertise, build a personal network, and learn, first-hand, about how Lean and Six Sigma is transforming hospital and laboratory workflow-raising health outcomes, boosting productivity, and substantially reducing errors and waste.

Check out the Web site for the full agenda and details on registration. If this link doesn't work, copy and paste this URL into your Web browser: http://www.labqualityconfab.com.

A word of advice...registrations are running ahead of predictions and our conference hotel is filling up. Lab Quality Confab will have plenty of hotel rooms at another hotel across the street. However, timely action on your part will ensure both your registration and accommodations at the Westin Peachtree Hotel, site of Lab Quality Confab. Register today and guarantee your place at the lab industry's most important event on quality management and process improvement!

Related Articles:

• Not Paying for Medical Errors
• Medicare gets stricter on hospitals: It is stopping reimbursement for medical errors
• Full program information and speaker agenda for Lab Quality Confab
• Complete details about the Lean–Six Sigma Poster Presentations, national trophies, and cash awards, along with Poster Presentation Application and Abstract forms
• Details on Lab Quality Confab registration options and on-line registration page http://www.labqualityconfab.com/register.htm