Proposed rule to expand quality reporting is on display, open for public comment
September 20, 2006
A proposed rule for the hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) for calendar year 2007, issued August 8 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), includes a proposed expansion of quality measures for hospital reporting of quality data for the fiscal year (FY) 2008 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) annual update. The proposed rule is open for public comment through October 10.
Published in the August 8 Federal Register, the proposed rule may be located on the Hospital Outpatient PPS section of the CMS website. It is important to read the entire document, giving special attention to details regarding the Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update (RHQDAPU) program, which begin on page 528.
The rule includes a proposal on hospital reporting of additional quality measures, based on additional measures endorsed by the privately-led Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). If CMS were to adopt the proposal in the final rule, hospitals would, for the first time, be required to report consistent measures on patient satisfaction with hospital care to receive a full inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) update. The survey instrument, from the HCAHPS® (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), which was developed jointly by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and CMS, is designed to gather information about patient perspectives of the care that they have received during an inpatient stay.
Also for the first time, hospitals would report risk-adjusted outcome measures to receive the full update, including 30-day mortality measures for patients hospitalized with an acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or pneumonia.
In addition, three new measures from the Surgical Care Improvement Project related to the process of care for surgical procedures are proposed. These data would be included with other quality data on the Hospital Compare website after reporting begins in 2007.
The public comment period on the rule, “Medicare Program: Proposed Changes to the Hospital Outpatient PPS and CY 2007 Rates…,” runs through October 10, 2006. In commenting on the provisions for the FY 2008 IPPS RHQDAPU program, please refer to file code (Docket ID) CMS-4125-P. Comments on specific issues in the regulation may be submitted electronically at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/eRulemaking.