# In the US what financial incentives are there, if any, for hospitals to report covid deaths & illnesses?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-what-financial-incentives-are-there-if-any-for-hospitals-to-report-covid-deaths-illnesses/921561>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [September 26, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-what-financial-incentives-are-there-if-any-for-hospitals-to-report-covid-deaths-illnesses/921561 "2020-09-26T04:35:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-what-financial-incentives-are-there-if-any-for-hospitals-to-report-covid-deaths-illnesses/921561/1 "2020-09-26T04:35:20Z")

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Are there any incentives, either at the federal of the state levels?

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**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2020, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-what-financial-incentives-are-there-if-any-for-hospitals-to-report-covid-deaths-illnesses/921561/2 "2020-09-26T10:51:09Z")

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Factcheck, back in April, said that Medicare paid more for COVID patients, but there was no evidence of fraud:

> **[Hospital Payments and the COVID-19 Death Count - FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/hospital-payments-and-the-covid-19-death-count/)**
>
> Q: Are hospitals inflating the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths so they can be paid more? A: Recent legislation pays hospitals higher Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients and treatment, but there is no evidence of fraudulent reporting. FULL...

I don’t know if it’s still the case – I couldn’t find any articles past around the April time period.

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-what-financial-incentives-are-there-if-any-for-hospitals-to-report-covid-deaths-illnesses/921561/3 "2020-09-27T09:25:01Z")

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There are penalties, both at the state and federal levels.

Apart from being disbarred / de-funded, (both of which take years to finalize) I don’t know what the penalties are. Those penalties are sufficient to get everybody to co-operate, but not always in a timely manner.

The recent change to reporting requirements required a matching change to hospital procedures and software. Not everybody got there on time, and, in the nature of things, you would expect there to still be errors.

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**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-what-financial-incentives-are-there-if-any-for-hospitals-to-report-covid-deaths-illnesses/921561/4 "2020-09-28T01:43:25Z")

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Since it is a reportable illness, there is a positive obligation to report known cases. Presumably, non-compliance carries penalties. Of course, one needs to test to report.

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-what-financial-incentives-are-there-if-any-for-hospitals-to-report-covid-deaths-illnesses/921561/5 "2020-09-29T13:51:47Z")

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> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> Factcheck, back in April, said that Medicare paid more for COVID patients, but there was no evidence of fraud:
> 
> [Hospital Payments and the COVID-19 Death Count - FactCheck.org](https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/hospital-payments-and-the-covid-19-death-count/)
> 
> I don’t know if it’s still the case – I couldn’t find any articles past around the April time period.

Thanks for that. I haven’t found more current articles yet.

> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> Since it is a reportable illness, there is a positive obligation to report known cases. Presumably, non-compliance carries penalties. Of course, one needs to test to report.

Obligation is one thing, while incentivizing is another.