Highlights

PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Listening Session

The Affordable Care Act requires CMS to establish a quality reporting program for the PPS-exempt cancer hospitals for fiscal year 2014 and subsequent years. At this time 11 PPS-exempt Cancer Hospitals must report quality data according to CMS' requirements with no Medicare payment penalty or incentive. CMS is required to publish the measures no later than October 1, 2012. CMS intends to propose measures and reporting requirements through rulemaking prior to the October 1, 2012 statutory required date. Hospital-level measure rates are required to be publicly reported for participating PPS-exempt Cancer Hospital's.

CMS is seeking input from the cancer communities, public advocacies, cancer associations and Medicare consumers. This listening session is not limited to quality measures. In addition, CMS is interested in learning about your experiences with public reporting, data infrastructure and storage, and protection of patient privacy. We would like to know what measures stakeholders in the cancer community have used to drive meaningful improvements in patient care. Areas for consideration include, but are not limited to clinical processes, outcomes, standards, and patient experience of care or satisfaction. We also seek your feedback on the program's benefits and opportunities to improve quality and reduce cost, relative to the impact of collecting data on facilities. Your thoughts and insights about the implementation of this program will be considered as part of our effort to further our public reporting program.

For transcripts and recording of the session calls, see Downloads below.

Inpatient Psychiatric Facility (IPF) Listening Session Announcement

The Affordable Care Act requires CMS to establish a quality reporting program, for inpatient psychiatric facilities for fiscal year 2014 and subsequent years. Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities (IPF) must report quality data according to CMS' requirements to receive 2.0% of their Medicare payment. CMS is required to publish the measures no later than October 1, 2012. CMS intends to propose measures and reporting requirements through rulemaking prior to the October 1, 2012 statutory required date. Facility-level measure rates are required to be publicly reported for participating IPF's.

CMS seeks for input from the psychiatric community. This listening session is not limited to quality measures. In addition, CMS is interested in learning about your experiences with public reporting, data infrastructure and storage, and protection of patient privacy. We would like to know what measures stakeholders in the psychiatric community have used to drive meaningful improvements in patient care. Areas for consideration include, but are not limited to clinical processes and patient experience of care or satisfaction. Measures to be considered for public reporting and for inclusion in Inpatient Psychiatric Facility pay-for-reporting program. Your thoughts and insights about the implementation of this program will be considered as part of our effort to further our public reporting program.

For transcripts and recording of the calls, see Download.

Hospital Compare Updated:  Important new information about the quality of care available in America's outpatient and emergency departments, including how well hospitals care for patients with heart attacks and protect outpatients from surgical infections was added to the new HHS website HealthCare.gov. The information can be found as part of the Compare Care Quality link on the front page of the new site, http://www.healthcare.gov/. It can also be found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Hospital Compare website, http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/. 

Top Clinical Performers in Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration Announced Quality of care has improved significantly in hospitals participating in the CMS Premier Hospital Quality Incentive demonstration, a groundbreaking Medicare pay-for-performance demonstration project. Medicare is awarding $8.85 million to hospitals that showed measurable improvements in care during the first year of the program. Improvement in these evidence-based quality measures is expected to provide long term savings, because of their demonstrated relationship to improved patient health, fewer complications and fewer hospital re-admissions. Click to the link below for the full press release. For more information, please go to the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration section.