Beginning late next year, hospitals will be paid in part based on their performance on 12 clinical quality measures and patient satisfaction scores.
Under the new Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program, mandated by the Affordable Care Act, officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will set aside 1% of hospital payments under the Medicare IPPS (Inpatient Prospective Payment System) to pay for care based on quality.
In the first year, the fund will have about $850 million to make quality-incentive payments.
Dr. Richard Bankowitz, chief medical officer for the Premier Healthcare Alliance (a network of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals and 73,000 other health care sites) shared his views on the new program and the potential impact it will have on cost and quality.
CN: Are Medicare officials using the right quality measures? What factors need to be considered in choosing measures?
CN: Are hospitals ready to take this step?
CN: Is this program likely to meet the goals of lowering cost while improving quality?
CN: How could this program help pave the way for pay for performance at the physician level?
Performance thresholds should be established at a level that all hospitals could be expected to achieve.
Source DR. BANKOWITZ