Medical advances will help reduce hospital-acquired infections

Although reducing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has always been a priority for the healthcare industry, a recent revision to the inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) is eliciting a renewed focus on this critical health issue. The revision, called "CMS-1533-P," states that Medicare will no longer pay for hospital care necessary for a condition, including HAIs, acquired by a patient during a hospital stay that could have been reasonably prevented by following evidence-based guidelines.