Federal health officials do not inform consumers about serious safety violations in hospitals that specialize in physical rehabilitation. Medicare also does not impose fines such as for nursing homes, or offers easy to understand five -star reviews such as for general hospitals, according to a study by KFF Health News and the New York Times.
Medical rehabilitation hospitals have become a very lucrative niche within health care, which jointly generate a profit of 10%, more than general hospitals, which earn around 6%, and much more than competent nursing homes, which earn less than 0.5%, according to the most recent data from the Medicare Payment Advisory, an independent Congresscongen.
But medpac and independent researchers found that Rehabilitation with profit motive tend to have Higher percentages of patients are re -admitted to general hospitals than non -profit organizations.
In 2023, independent profit-making rehabilitation commercials caught up with non-profit organizations as the places where most annual recordings of patients occur, a KFF analysis of Health News and New York Times. These facilities are required to offer three hours of physical, professional or speech therapy per day, five days a week.
The Congress has not authorized Medicare to pay for hospitals in rehabilitation for violations that were discovered during inspections, even those who resulted in death, as it almost did 8,000 nursing homes During the last three years, imposing average fines of around $ 28,000.
The only option is to completely cut off the reimbursement of a rehabilitation hospital for all services of Medicare and Medicaid, which cover most patients. That step would most likely be out of operation and is almost never used. Even the most serious violations have effective punishments as long as the hospital is taking steps to prevent future problems.
The overall efforts of the federal government are limited. Medicare Docks Payment to rehabilitations for patients who have been taken over at a general hospital during shorter than average rehabilitation, but unlike general hospitals, there are no financial fines when recently discharged rehabilitation patients are admitted to hospital for critical health problems.
The Biden administration announced last year that it intended Develop an assessment scale of 1 to 5 stars For rehabilitation on his care website. The trade association of the industry, the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association, required a delay in creating star reviews until the current quality measures were refined. The Trump government has not determined whether it will continue the effort to assess rehabilitation.
Also read our consumer guide for finding the right place to get physical, professional or speech therapy.
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