The Rising Costs of Poor Quality

By Ruth Elzer, RN, MS

The recent article from Health Leaders entitled, “12 More Hospitals Fined For Putting Patients In Immediate Jeopardy” illustrates only one aspect of the costs of poor survey results. The fines being levied in California and other states only add to the costs associated with addressing Immediate Jeopardy, and in some cases, Medicare termination. While some hospitals will continue to believe, “this will never happen” to them or that CMS “can’t do anything ‘real’” to them, more and more hospitals are finding themselves in Immediate Jeopardy with short timeframes for compliance.

Efforts by quality leaders and CMS continue to track quality outcomes through core measures and QIO activities, but they also monitor ‘never events’ and blips in quality that can lead to more attention by state survey agencies and others. Pending health care reform is likely to continue the wave of transparency, requiring hospitals to share both good and bad outcomes. This will make more hospitals vulnerable to unexpected visits by regulators, unexpected fines, and potentially devastating violation reports. While prevention may be prudent and advisable, hospital leaders must also possess an immediate game plan for dealing with poor survey results that leads to a quick return to compliance to avoid further scrutiny by others.