Starting this month, El Camino Hospital staff will begin working extra hard to ensure Medicare patients take their prescription medications properly, make it to their follow-up appointments and remain healthy. It's not that the Mountain View health care organization wasn't doing that before, but now it will be fined by Medicare every time one of its elderly patients is readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged. The new penalty, which went into effect on Oct. 1, is part of the Affordable Care Act and is meant to encourage hospitals and doctors to strive for quality care over the quantity of care.
Read the full story on the Mountain View Voice website.