Medicare and Medicaid Services (

Medicare and Medicaid Services (

Comment1

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a non-reimbursement policy for certain never events(serious hospital acquired conditions) to encourage hospitals to fast track improvements of patient’s safety by applying standardized protocols. The newly defined never events limits the hospitals to bill Medicare for adverse events and complications that are deemed reasonably preventable using evidence-based guidelines (Lembitz & Clarke, 2009).

CMS adopted the non-reimbursement policy for certain “never events” – defined as “non-reimbursable serious hospital-acquired conditions” – in order to motivate hospitals to accelerate improvement of patient safety by implementation of standardized protocols. These newly defined “never events” limit the ability of the hospitals to bill Medicare for adverse events and complications. The non-reimbursable conditions apply only to those events deemed “reasonably preventable” through the use of evidence-based guidelines (Lembitz & Clarke, 2009).

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented never events in 2008 as non-reimbursable hospital acquired conditions to create motivation for hospitals to improve patient safety. Never events are medical errors that should never happen to a patient. The list includes events which are chiefly avoidable and are obvious negligence. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) adopted never events in 2008 as non-reimbursable hospital-acquired conditions in to create motivation for hospitals to improve patient safety (Votroubek, 2018).