If you think that it’s the federal government’s responsibility to ensure patient safety and quality in hospitals, Medicare for all would help. Right now, private accreditation agencies and states are charged with overseeing hospitals on many safety issues. And, states tend to lack the skill, the will and the resources to conduct needed oversight, while accreditation agencies can be conflicted or unavailable. Consequently, in our current system, as Health Care Dive reports, we are at risk of being ill-prepared for the next pandemic.
The HHS Office of the Inspector General just issued a report explaining the health care safety dilemma we face as a result of our multi-payer health care system. It recommends regulatory changes that would give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services authority over accreditation organizations in public emergencies and to control the spread of infectious diseases. While this is theoretically possible without Medicare for all, it’s hard to see how this fix would be enough in our fragmented healthcare system.
The federal government has no access to real-time hospital data, except for traditional Medicare patients. That’s not enough to see where problems lie at hospitals and to address them. And, CMS cannot require hospitals or accreditation agencies to perform targeted infection control surveys.
The federal government should be able to require hospitals to undergo additional surveys during public health emergencies because they all contract with the federal government to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients, Right now, surveys generally take place every three years.
The federal government should have more authority over hospitals and hospital-accrediting agencies. Without that authority, it cannot ensure quality and safety. Accreditors sometimes have conflicts of interest with the hospitals they are accrediting. Four years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on hospitals that were fully accredited even though they were seriously out of compliance with safety requirements.
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