The Hill-Rom Company has published a study indicating that half of all hospital patients risk acquiring pressure ulcers or bed sores during the hospital stay. First to blame are the hospitals for not taking precautions to prevent the sores from starting.
This study follows the recent U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ decision to stop reimbursement to hospitals for the cost of pressure sore related care. They will no longer pay because pressure ulcers are preventable if hospitals adhere to well known prevention programs which should be a part of the standard of care. Date reveals that pressure ulcers were found in 323,000 Medicare patients hospitalized in the last year.
For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice.
