Becker's Hospital Review

65 CARE DELIVERY Medicare Cuts Payments to 758 Hospitals for HACs: 6 Things to Know By Ayla Ellison I n fiscal year 2016, 758 hospitals will have their Medi- care payments reduced for being among those with the highest rates of hospital-acquired conditions. Here are six things to know about the HAC Reduction Program and the hospitals receiv- ing penalties. 1. Created under the Affordable Care Act, the HAC Reduction Program is aimed at preventing harm to patients. 2. In FY 2016, 758 out of 3,308 hospitals subject to the HAC Reduction Program are in the worst per- forming quartile. ese facilities will have their Medi- care payments reduced by 1 percent for all discharges occurring between Oct. 1, 2015, and Sept. 30, 2016. 3. CMS said 54 percent of the hospitals that were in the worst performing quartile in FY 2016 were also in that quartile in FY 2015. 4. e FY 2016 penalties will total approximately $364 million, according to CMS. 5 ere are two domains used to score hospitals in FY 2016. e first domain includes the Patient Safety Indi- cator 90 Composite and is weighted at 25 percent. e second domain is weighted at 75 percent and includes three measures: central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and surgical site infections. 6. Hospitals are classified based on their measure re- sults, with each hospital assigned a score between one and 10 for each measure. In FY 2016, hospitals with a total HAC score greater than 6.75 are subject to a payment reduction. n Nursing Rated Most Honest, Ethical Profession Once Again By Tamara Rosin N ursing is the most trusted profession, according to Gallup's annual poll ranking honesty and ethics in various fields. The public has consistently named nursing as the most honest and ethical profession in the U.S. for the last 14 con- secutive years. In 2015, 85 percent of Americans said nurses' honesty and ethical standards are "very high" or "high," setting them 17 percentage points above the next highest-rated pro- fession, pharmacists. Here is a look at the five most and least ethical professions, as rated in Gallup's poll. The percentages reflect those who ranked a professions' ethics as "very high" and "high." Highest Lowest Nurses: 85% Pharmacists: 68% Physicians: 67% High School Teachers: 60% Police Officers: 56% Lobbyists: 7% Car salespeople: 8% Advertising practitioners: 10% Telemarketers: 8% Members of Congress: 8%

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