Hospitals Have Incentive to Inflate COVID-Deaths, CDC Chief Admits

Calvin Freiburger : Aug 5, 2020
LifeSiteNews.com

In April, the New York City Health Department invited such concerns by adding more than 3,700 to its official death count, single-handedly raising the national COVID-19 death toll by 17 percent, despite that number coming from the addition of people "presumed" to have had the virus but not having been tested for it.

(Washington, DC) — [LifeSiteNews.com] There is a financial incentive for hospitals to inflate their counts of deaths due to COVID-19, US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Robert Redfield acknowledged Friday in congressional testimony. (Image: via LifeSiteNews)

"I think you're correct in that we've seen this in other disease processes, too, really in the HIV epidemic, somebody may have a heart attack, but also have HIV—the hospital would prefer the [classification] for HIV because there's greater reimbursement," Redfield told the House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

Redfield maintained that "probably it is less operable in the cause of death" and assured lawmakers that "we review all of those death certificates" but admitted, "When it comes to hospital reimbursement issues or individuals that get discharged, there could be some play in that for sure."

The federal CARES Act, the $2-trillion emergency relief package Congress passed in March, increases per-patient Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals by 20% for patients listed with a "principal or secondary diagnosis of COVID-19."

As of August 4, the United States is estimated to have seen more than 4.9 million cases of COVID-19, with more than 160,000 deaths and 2.4 million recoveries. For months, however, debate has raged over the accuracy of those numbers.

In April, the New York City Health Department invited such concerns by adding more than 3,700 to its official death count, single-handedly raising the national COVID-19 death toll by 17 percent, despite that number coming from the addition of people "presumed" to have had the virus but not having been tested for it... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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