HACs and Business Plans

How are the HAC provisions related to costs?

• added treatment costs, for example, the added cost of a pressure ulcer that develops after hip surgery
  
• increased length of stay
  
• potential fines or litigation
  
• potential accreditation, reputation and referral problems

How are the HAC provisions related to revenues?

• Medicare will withhold additional payment for these conditions if they were not present on admission, resulting in lost revenues.

What about quality?

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) is proposing additions to the current list of HACs:

Surgical Site Infections Following Elective Procedures:

• Total Knee Replacement


• Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass and Gastroenterostomy


• Ligation and Stripping of Varicose Veins

Legionnaires’ Disease

Glycemic Control:

• Diabetic Ketoacidosis


• Nonketotic Hyperosmolar Coma


• Diabetic Coma


• Hypoglycemic Coma

Iatrogenic Pneumothorax

Delirium

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP)

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)/Pulmonary Embolism (PE)

Staphylococcus aureus Septicemia

Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease (CDAD)

How does this relate to writing business plans?

If you're trying to make a business case for your idea, showing that you will improve quality, reduce costs and capture revenue makes your plan convincing. We can use HACs (current and proposed) as examples of ideas for business plans.