A 75-year-old patient in an acute care hospital who underwent surgery for an abdominal aneurysm developed a urinary tract infection 3 days after placement of a Foley catheter.The nurse believes that this is a reportable incident,and which of the following will happen as a result?

A) Medicare will be denied to the patient.
B) Medicare will take the hospital to court.
C) Nothing; it is not a reportable incident.
D) Medicare will not reimburse the hospital for this infection.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)names select serious reportable events (SREs)as Never Events (adverse events that should never occur in a health care setting)(US Department of Health and Human Services,2008).The CMS now denies payment to hospitals for any hospital-acquired conditions resulting from or complicated by the occurrence of certain Never Events that were not present on admission.Many of the hospital-acquired conditions are nurse-sensitive indicators,meaning that nursing interventions directly affect their development.Medicare is not denied to the patient and this is a reportable incident.Medicare does not take hospitals to court; it just denies payment for the Never Event.