Becker's Hospital Review

20 CFO / FINANCE 38 top-rated hospitals hit with Medicare penalties By Ayla Ellison C MS will trim 764 hospitals' Medicare payments in fiscal year 2022 for hav- ing the highest rates of patient inju- ries and infections. irty-eight of those hos- pitals are simultaneously ranked as the best in the country by CMS, Kaiser Health News reported Feb. 8. e Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program aims to prevent harm to patients by providing a financial incentive for hospitals to prevent hospital-acquired conditions. Under the program, a hospital's total score is based on performance on several quality measures, including rates of infections, blood clots and other complications that occur in hospitals and might have been prevented. Each year, Medicare cuts payments by 1 per- cent for hospitals that fall in the worst-per- forming quartile. e fiscal year 2022 penalties are based on patients who stayed in the hospi- tal between mid-2018 and 2019. CMS excluded 2020 data from the calculations in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. is year's list of penalized hospitals includes 38 hospitals that have five stars, the highest rating, on Medicare's Care Compare website, according to Kaiser Health News. e hospitals received five stars for "overall quality" based on dozens of metrics, including infection rates, re- admission frequencies and death rates. e 38 hospitals make up about 9 percent of the 404 hospitals that were both included in the HAC Reduction Program and received five stars. Nearly 17 percent of the 814 four- star hospitals included in the program were penalized, and 67 percent of one-star hospi- tals were punished, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News. More than 2,000 hospitals have been penalized at least once in the eight years since the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program began. e hospital industry has argued the pro- gram's design punishes hospitals that test most thoroughly for infections, since these facilities will appear to have the highest rates of infection, while those with less-thorough testing might appear to have lower rates. CMS said it can't substantially alter the program. "CMS is committed to ensuring safety and qual- ity of care for hospital patients through a variety of initiatives," CMS told Kaiser Health News. "Much of how the Hospital-Acquired Condi- tion Reduction Program is structured, including penalty amounts, is determined by law." n Mayo Clinic employees to receive 4% raise after controversy By Marissa Plescia R ochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic will provide its staff with a minimum 4 percent raise after the system came under fire for a 2 percent raise announced in January, the Post Bulletin reported Feb. 15. The raise is for eligible allied health staff members. Workers who make an hourly wage of $21 or less will receive the raise and a stipend for the hours they worked between March 16 and Nov. 22, 2021, Mayo Clinic spokesperson Kelley Luckstein told the Bulletin. "With inflation at the highest rate in years, it may disproportionately af- fect the lives of our staff members at the lower end of the pay scale," Ms. Luckstein said in a statement to the Bulletin. The previous 2 percent raise — announced Jan. 18 — came with a 2.75 multiplier and was the same amount the employees received in 2020 before the pandemic, according to the Bulletin. Employees previously expressed their disappointment over the 2 per- cent raise as they dealt with staffing strain and increasing costs from in- flation, the Bulletin reported. Mayo Clinic said the 2 percent raise was based on the market rate and on a review of external market factors. A survey of 240 companies by international research group the Confer- ence Board discovered an average raise of 3.9 percent for 2022, while a survey of 1,004 companies by research firm Willis Towers Watson found an average raise of 3.4 percent. The 4 percent raises hit employees' paychecks April 5. n 'Big 6' payers ranked by their 2021 profits By Nick Moran P rofits were down year over year for half of the country's largest payers in 2021, but didn't stop double-digit growth for others. Here are the largest six payers ranked by 2021 profit: 1. UnitedHealthcare: $17.3 billion (up 12.2 percent year over year) 2. CVS Health's Aetna: $13.2 billion (down 5.2 percent year over year) 3. Anthem: $7.5 billion (up 17.8 percent year over year)* 4. Cigna: $5.4 billion (down 36.7 percent year over year) 5. Humana: $3.4 billion (down 27.1 percent year over year) 6. Centene: $3 billion (up 5 percent year over year) *Denotes operating gain n

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