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Opinion: Medicare's observation status unfair to patients
Albany Times Union, February 5, 2013
Staff writer Cathleen Crowley's article, "Observation status, and a nasty surprise," Dec. 11, offers a vivid glimpse at a large and insidious problem: Medicare's hospital reimbursement policies are harming patients. The article noted that hospitals are increasingly placing patients on "observation" status in response to federal pressure to reduce overall Medicare spending. Medicare is imposing stiff financial penalties on hospitals that admit patients whom Medicare decides should have been treated as outpatients.
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*MAGNET™, MAGNET RECOGNITION PROGRAM®, and ANCC MAGNET RECOGNITION® are trademarks of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The products and services of HCPro, Inc. and The Greeley Company are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the ANCC. The acronym "MRP" is not a trademark of HCPro or its parent company. HCPro, Inc. is not affiliated in any way with The Joint Commission, which owns the JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) and Joint Commission trademarks, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which owns the ACGME trademark, or the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).