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15 13th Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference + The Future of Spine – Call (800) 417-2035 H ere are 10 things to know about how the public thinks about medical er- rors and patient safety, according to Harvard School of Public Health's "The Public's Views on Medical Error in Massa- chusetts." The surveyors found: 1. Around 25 percent of the people in Mas- sachusetts reported experiencing a medical error within the past five years. 2. The medical problem was a misdiagnosis in about half of the cases. 3. There were 32 percent of respondents who reported getting an infection as a result of a test, surgery or treatment. 4. Half of those who reported medical errors said there were serious consequences as a result. 5. The errors were almost always occurring when the patient was treated in a hospital; around 75 percent said they were in a hospital. 6. Those who were surveyed said they felt mistakes made by individual healthcare pro- viders were more likely at fault for the medi- cal errors. More than half — 52 percent — of respondents felt that way. 7. Only around 33 percent of the respondents felt the hospitals or clinics were at fault for their medical errors. 8. While many reported medical errors, only 54 percent said they reported the medi- cal errors to their providers. Most of those who reported the error to the providers said they wanted to prevent it from happening to someone else. 9. Among those who did not report their medical errors, 65 percent said it was because they "didn't think it would do any good." 10. The wrong test, surgery or treatment was given to 38 percent of the people who reported medical errors; 32 percent report- ed getting the wrong medication. n 10 Key Statistics on Medical Errors By Laura Dyrda CMS Corrects HOPD, ASC Final Payment Rule; ASC Conversion Factor Drops By Carrie Pallardy O n Feb. 24, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a notice of several corrections to its Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambu- latory Surgical Center Payment Systems final rule. The final rule was released in November. Due to the final corrected wage index budget neutrality adjustment, the ASC conversion factor will decrease from the originally announced $44.071 to $44.058. Amongst the corrections, CMS also announced the HOPD conversion rate will be bumped up from $74.144 to $74.173 for most ambulatory payment classifications. n Healthcare Hacks Jump 1,800% in 5 years, And Growing — 5 Key Points for ASCs By Laura Dyrda F rom 2008 to 2013, healthcare hacks jumped 1,800 percent, and there are still several major healthcare institutions that don't have a tight enough security policy, according to the Washington Examiner. Here are five key points from the report: 1. There were 13 hacks where more than 500 pa- tients were exposed in 2008; that number jumped to 256 in 2013. 2. Healthcare hacks impacted 9 million people last year, according to a Brookings Institute report. 3. Health insurers like anthem are now being hacked. The anthem hack exposed 80 million cur- rent and former members. 4. The top fine healthcare providers face when hacked is $1.5 million, which is a lot for most sur- gery centers but isn't a huge disincentive given the cost to implement heavy security for large firms. 5. Healthcare data is increasingly attractive to hack- ers because it provides valuable information and often isn't very secure, especially for small health- care providers. Security is particularly important for providers that personal information about their patients from Social Security and credit card numbers to health histories, according to a Reuters report. Experts are now sug- gesting medical information is 10-times more valuable than credit card numbers on the black market. Hackers can steal information to purchase medical equipment or drugs to resell or match patient numbers with false providers to file fraudulent payer claims. Here are five key ways ASCs can avoid exposure: • Keep antivirus/antimalware up-to-date • Limit laptop use • Don't allow unsecured email access • Regularly audit IT security • Issue employees mobile devices for the center n TO SUBSCRIBE TO the FREE Becker's ASC E-weekly, go to www.BeckersASC.com or e-mail Scott Becker at sbecker@beckershealthcare.com