Maine Med, St. Mary's could face penalties over infections, complications

Maine Medical Hospital in Portland and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston are likely to face federal penalties for high rates of infections and complications.

The Bangor Daily News reported they are among four other Maine hospitals that could be penalized for the high infection and complication rates. The hospitals were revealed in a report by Kaiser Health News that shortlisted Maine Medical and St. Mary’s as the two most likely hospitals to receive penalties from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The federal agency identified 761 hospitals across the country in examining patient injuries that resulted from medical treatment and infections from catheters. The hospitals could face penalties through the Medicare program after further analysis.

Kaiser’s shortlist is based on a scale of 1 to 10 for how likely a hospital may be penalized. Maine Medical received a 10 and St. Mary’s received a 9. The other Maine hospitals, including MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, Mercy Hospital in Portland, Inland Hospital in Waterville and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, all received a 7 or higher.

Peter Bates, senior vice president of academic and medical affairs and chief medical officer at Maine Medical, told the BDN that the hospital acknowledged the findings. But he added that they do not provide the full picture for patient safety and that the “methodology of this approach to reducing payments [is] somewhat imbalanced.”

Betsey Shew, director of improvement at St. Mary’s, told the newspaper that the hospital has seen low rates of infection in the past few years, with none so far in 2014. “The way it’s been put out there really makes it look like we aren’t a safe facility and I really and truly believe we are,” she said.