CMS officials announced Thursday the addition of two hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) to its list of conditions Medicare will not pay for.

Prior to this announcement, there were eight HACs Medicare won’t pay for. Now, dangerous blood clots in the leg following a knee or hip-replacement, and complications stemming from poor blood sugar control will not be covered. CMS will include these conditions as part of its final rule for inpatient hospital payments, effective fiscal year 2009, or October 1.

CMS intended to add seven more HACs, like Legionnaire’s disease and ventilator-associated pneumonia, but backed off after protests from the medical community, according to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Private insurers, as well as state Medicaid programs, are following suit by adopting their own HAC policies.

Medical errors and HACs may be responsible for 98,000 deaths annually at costs of $29 billion, according to the Institute of Medicine.