In 2007, Medicare instituted a new policy, regarding "never events." Never events are those hospital incidents that should never happen, patient falls, stage III and IV pressure ulcers, objects left in surgical patients, certain infections. Never events are serious and costly complications that occur in the hospital that CMS believes are preventible. Other examples include: operating on the wrong limb, blood incompatibility, surgical site infection following an elective surgery, catheter related UTI, aand air embolism.
CMS said that if the patient suffered from one of these events, Medicare would not pay the hospital for the treatment.
Currently, CMS still pays the physician for the care, however, most experts believe that this policy will change, to bring the physician and the hospital policies in alignment.