Healthcare inspectors could lose their jobs and facility inspections could be reduced in Nevada if a panel of elected officials rejects a proposal to increase healthcare facility licensing fees, according to a Las Vegas Sun report.
The proposed fee increases are exponential in some cases, causing facility lobbyists to argue that the state, rather than the businesses, should take financial responsibility for protecting the public.
Healthcare facility inspectors became vital after a hepatitis C crisis in 2008, when a Las Vegas colonoscopy clinic infected an estimated 16 patients by reusing syringes and single-use medicine vials. The clinic had not been inspected since 2001. In 2009, legislature started requiring the Nevada State Health Division to conduct routine inspectors every 12 or 18 months, depending on the facility.
But without the facility fee increase, state officials say they will be unable to fulfill the inspection requirement. The fee changes would raise hospital fees from $10,000 plus $60 per bed to $14,606 plus $110 per bed and raise ASC fees from $3,570 to $9,784.
Read the Las Vegas Sun report on fee increases.
Read more on hospital finances:
-South Carolina's Tuomey Healthcare Appeals Stark Law Fine
-Prime Announces Layoffs, Restructuring for California's Alvarado Hospital
-More Than Half of States Expanded Medicaid Programs in 2010
The proposed fee increases are exponential in some cases, causing facility lobbyists to argue that the state, rather than the businesses, should take financial responsibility for protecting the public.
Healthcare facility inspectors became vital after a hepatitis C crisis in 2008, when a Las Vegas colonoscopy clinic infected an estimated 16 patients by reusing syringes and single-use medicine vials. The clinic had not been inspected since 2001. In 2009, legislature started requiring the Nevada State Health Division to conduct routine inspectors every 12 or 18 months, depending on the facility.
But without the facility fee increase, state officials say they will be unable to fulfill the inspection requirement. The fee changes would raise hospital fees from $10,000 plus $60 per bed to $14,606 plus $110 per bed and raise ASC fees from $3,570 to $9,784.
Read the Las Vegas Sun report on fee increases.
Read more on hospital finances:
-South Carolina's Tuomey Healthcare Appeals Stark Law Fine
-Prime Announces Layoffs, Restructuring for California's Alvarado Hospital
-More Than Half of States Expanded Medicaid Programs in 2010