Inspections of the medical rehabilitation hospital are not advertised by federal officials

Federal health officials do not inform consumers of serious security violations in hospitals specializing in physical rehabilitation. According to an investigation, Kff Health Health Health News and the New York Times and the New York Times and the New York Times and the New York Times and the New York Times and the New York Times and the New York Times.

Medical rehabilitation hospitals have become a very lucrative niche within the health care industry, collectively generating profits of 10%, more than general hospitals, which earn around 6%, and much more than qualified nursing homes, which are less than 0.5%, according to the most recent data in the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a independent congress agency known under the name of Medpac.

But Medpac and independent researchers have discovered that for -profit rehabilitation tends to have higher rates of patients who are re -added to general hospitals than non -profit organizations.

In 2023, autonomous lucrative rehabilitation hospitals exceeded non -profit organizations such as places where most of the annual admissions of patients occur, revealed an analysis of KFF health health and New York Times. These facilities are necessary to provide three hours of physical therapy, activity or speech therapy per day, five days a week.

The Congress has not authorized Medicare to amend rehabilitation hospitals for violations discovered during the inspections, even those that led to death, as did with nearly 8,000 nursing homes in the past three years, imposing average fines of around $ 28,000.

The only option is to fully cut the reimbursement of a rehabilitation hospital for all services by Medicare and Medicaid, which cover most patients. This step would most likely put it out of business and will almost never be used. Even the most serious violations do not effectively carry any sanction as long as the hospital sets up steps to avoid future problems.

Global quality monitoring efforts of the federal government are limited. Medicare Pay Payment to rehabilitation facilities for patients re -added to a general hospital during shorter rehabilitation stays than the average, but unlike general hospitals, there are no financial penalties when patients recently rehabilitated are hospitalized for critical health problems.

The Biden Administration announced last year that it intended to develop a scales of 1 to 5 stars for rehabilitation facilities on its compare Care website. The Professional Association of Industry, the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association, asked for a delay in the creation of stars notes until the current quality measures are refined. The Trump administration has not determined if it will continue the efforts to assess rehabilitation facilities.

Also read our consumer guide to find the right place to obtain physical, professional or speech therapies.

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