Data from Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Increase Transparency for Consumers Evaluating Facilities
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced for the first time that quality measures from inpatient psychiatric facilities will be publicly reported on Hospital Compare, a consumer-oriented website that provides information on the quality of care hospitals are providing to their patients.
“Patients and their families need facts to help them in making informed decisions about healthcare, and choosing the right facility for inpatient psychiatric care is an important decision to make,” said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
Beginning April 17, 2014, Hospital Compare will feature data from 1,753 inpatient psychiatric facilities on patient care for the period of October 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013. Public reporting will allow consumers to directly compare facilities based on data collected for the following measures:
- Hours of Physical Restraint Use
- Hours of Seclusion Use
- Post-Discharge Continuing Care Plan Created
- Post-Discharge Continuing Care Plan Transmitted to Next Level of Care Provider Upon Discharge
The two measures below are a part of the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting program. However, technical issues caused by unforeseen circumstances impacted the data collection and submission of these two measures and therefore will be suppressed. CMS expects to publicly display data for these measures the same time next year (April 2015).
- Patients Discharged on Multiple Antipsychotic Medications
- Patients Discharged on Multiple Antipsychotic Medications with Appropriate Justification
Data reported on Hospital Compare are collected as part of CMS’ Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program, as required by the Social Security Act, amended by the Affordable Care Act.
“This is an important first step in publicly reporting Inpatient Psychiatric Facility quality measures on Hospital Compare,” said Patrick Conway, M.D., CMS’ Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality. “Offering a set of meaningful quality measures for psychiatric facilities will help consumers make informed decisions and will encourage quality improvement within the clinician community, which shares CMS’ strong commitment to the best possible patient care.”
In addition to the IPFQR Program, Hospital Compare also reports quality measure data from CMS’ Hospital Inpatient and Outpatient Quality Reporting Programs and Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program. For more information, visit: http://medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html by clicking “Find Hospitals.”
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