Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

15 QUALITY MEASUREMENT & HOSPITAL RANKINGS Hospitals Disposing of Organs, Refusing Transplants to Maintain Federal Performance Ratings By Tamara Rosin U .S. hospitals are increasingly discarding less-than- perfect organs, denying the sickest patients on or- gan waitlists lifesaving transplants out of fear poor outcomes will yield worse federal performance ratings, according to STAT. Adel Bozorgzadeh, MD, a transplant surgeon at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, coauthored a study that found a sharp rise in the number of people dropped from organ transplant waitlists since the federal govern- ment began imposing transplant standards in 2007. The standards are tied to federal hospital ratings and Medicare funding, and hospitals' ability to meet these standards also influences their reputation in the broader medical commu- nity. Because surgeries involving extremely ill patients are riskier, hospitals have been avoiding them to protect their performance on the standards, according to the report. Dr. Bozorgzadeh's study, published in April by the Amer- ican College of Surgeons, found the increasing reluc- tance to perform organ transplants on the extremely ill is directly linked to the onset of the standards. Between 2007 and 2012, more than 4,300 transplant candidates were removed from hospital waiting lists, up 86 percent from the five years prior to the regulation, according to the report. The number of organs being thrown away has also in- creased out of fear that imperfections could lead to bad outcomes. In 2015, 3,159 donated kidneys were tossed, up 20 percent from 2007, according to federal data cited by STAT. Soon after Dr. Bozorgzadeh's study came out, CMS changed its transplant standard benchmarks to give hospitals more leeway. However, the system continues to undermine one of transplantation's fundamental principles, according to STAT: the sicker the patient, the higher he or she moves up on the wait list for donated organs. n m icrobial surveillance testing MADE EASY NOW! Test Healthmark offers the One-Two Punch to Iden fy and Document the Efficacy of Your Endoscope Reprocessing Rapid Indicator of Gram-Nega ve bacteria Immediate, prac cal screening test. Simply flush the lumen of a flexible endoscope, such as a duodenoscope, and follow the procedure for gram-nega ve bacteria detec on in less than 12 hours. flexible en doscope sam pling kit A simple and complete kit. A er flushing and brushing the lumen and elevator mechanism of a duodenoscope, simply follow the procedure to have the sample solu on & brush heads quickly sent to Nelson Laboratories - the leader in independent tes ng of flexible endoscopes. All tools are included for tes ng and shipment. Screen with the audit with the Surveillance tool for the random tes ng of duodenoscopes in compliance with CDC guidelines - In associa on with Nelson Laboratories www.hmark.com | 800.521.6224

• Cover