Quality Measures

In their recent paper, Beaulieu et al. attempt to estimate the effects of hospital acquisitions on measures of hospital quality at the acquired hospitals. To do so, the authors use four measures of hospital quality and compare the changes in these measures at acquired hospitals relative to changes…
Chief among the flaws in the most recent study on hospital consolidation published in the New England Journal of Medicine was that its conclusions were informed by preconceived notions of what the authors thought the data should show, which was then undermined further by the arbitrary choices made…
The National Quality Forum’s Measure Applications Partnership today released the annual list of performance measures under consideration for use in hospital and other Medicare public reporting and payment programs.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ home health prospective payment system CY 2020 final rule with comment period is effective Jan. 1, 2020; however, through Dec. 30, the agency will take comments related to drug coverage under the Medicare durable medical equipment benefit.
In part three of our series discussing Value-Based Health Care, Robert Kaplan, Mary Witkowski and Harry Wolberg from the Harvard Business School examine health care measurements and the importance of measuring patient outcomes.  Health care has a plethora of measurements, but not all are…
AHA comments on Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2020 Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update and CY 2019 Case-Mix Adjustment Methodology Refinements; Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model; Home Health Quality Reporting Requirements; Home Infusion Therapy Requirements; and Home…
On Aug. 2, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued its fiscal year (FY) 2020 final rule for the inpatient and long-term care hospital prospective payment systems (PPS). This advisory covers the rule’s LTCH-related provisions. AHA issued a separate Regulatory Advisory on the…
AHA comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ request for information on reducing administrative burden. As we have expressed to CMS, the regulatory burden faced by hospitals is substantial and unsustainable. In 2017, the AHA released an analysis showing that providers…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued the inpatient/long-term care hospital (LTCH) prospective payment system (PPS) final rule for fiscal year (FY) 2020. The inpatient PPS rule provisions are discussed in a separate Special Bulletin.