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Article: UW HOSPITAL PENALIZED OVER TRANSPLANTS CITING A BELOW-AVERAGE SUCCESS RATE, A MAJOR INSURER WON'T REFER PATIENTS FOR KIDNEY OPERATIONS.(FRONT)
- Article from:
- The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)
- Article date:
- July 15, 2009
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Byline: DAVID WAHLBERG dwahlberg@madison.com 608-252-6125
A major insurance company still is not sending patients to UW Hospital for kidney transplants because it says the hospital's success rate, though it has improved, remains too low.
The nation's organ transplant agencies are reviewing whether insurers should use such data to exclude transplant programs.
In September, Minnesota-based OptumHealth stopped referring patients to the hospital for kidney transplants, UW Hospital's largest transplant program. The company was paying for about 16 percent of transplants at the hospital, second only to the federal health plan Medicare.
The ...