This is important because the cost of hospital acquired infections run high. The cost to care for a patient with a hospital acquired infection is almost three times the amount to care for a patient without a hospital acquired infection (Hassan et al., 2010).

Since hospital acquired infections can be attributed to the hospital, Medicare and Medicaid will no longer cover payment of these infections beginning in 2008. Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements are designed to set payment rates that are consistent with hospital costs (Malatestinic et al., 2003). An acquired hospital infection is not considered a cost to Medicare or Medicaid since the patient contracted the infection through no fault of his own, but while under the care of the hospital staff. Deutsch does not agree with this decision and states that Medicare and Medicaid are doing more harm to the patients by withholding hospital payments and instead should invest...
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