North Memorial Medical Center Gets High Marks From Medicare

by Jeremy Olson, Star Tribune

Data shows which hospitals have been penalized for problems like hospital-acquired infections and too many readmissions – but they can also get rewarded. North Memorial Medical Center is one of only seven in Minnesota being rewarded for value by CMS while avoiding penalties for readmissions and infections, and Maple Grove Hospital is also being rewarded for quality of care ratings.

Minnesota hospitals have lost millions in penalties to the federal Medicare program over the last three years for sub-par performance, though they’re in much better shape than hospitals elsewhere.

The state’s 50 largest hospitals are collectively being penalized by 0.16 percent of their inpatient Medicare revenue this year – which will amount to $2.4 million in losses – for failing to prevent patients from being readmitted within 30 days of their prior hospital stays.

This is better than the average penalty of 0.5 percent assessed by Medicare nationally for failing to prevent readmissions, which indicate that hospitals didn’t adequately treat patients and prepare them for safe returns home. The penalties vary in Minnesota, where five hospitals are being docked more than 1 percent of their inpatient revenue from Medicare for poor performance…

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