The HHS Office of the Inspector General recently reported widespread and persistent denials of care in some Medicare Advantage plans but the Biden administration has yet to protect enrollees in those Medicare Advantage plans by disclosing the bad actors. Politico reports that the Biden administration is also choosing to protect the interests of hospital corporations over patients by not disclosing the names of the hospitals with high incidents of Covid-19 spread.
If you’re heading to the hospital, you should keep in mind that some hospitals do a poor job of containing the spread of infections, including Covid-19. In the last month, there were 1,457 reported cases of people contracting Covid-19 in hospital. And, that’s an undercounting since it only counts individuals who have contracted the virus while in the hospital at least 14 days. Back in January, there were 3,000 reported Covid-19 cases while patients were in hospital each week.
Patients have no warning as to which hospitals to avoid. The hospitals that did a poor job of containing the spread of Covid-19, in turn, are allowed to continue operations with little accountability for their poor behavior. Some of these hospitals could have done a lot more than they have to contain the spread of Covid-19 in hospital. The government has collected the data since the Trump administration, it just won’t share it.
Even if people should take personal responsibility for protecting themselves against Covid-19, as the Biden administration says, knowing which hospitals to stay clear of is one piece of how people can take responsibility. Moreover, immunocompromised individuals put their health at extreme risk if they contract Covid-19.
Patients can find some data on hospital-acquired infection rates at individual hospitals. Why isn’t a Covid-19 infection included in that data? Politico has filed a freedom of information act request for the data.
Here’s more from Just Care:
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