Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

New survey questions, pay-for-performance standards unveiled.

Will new quality measures provide an accurate snapshot of how well hospitals have done their job? Here's your chance to weigh in.
 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is taking public comment on its new Hospital-Consumer Assessment of Health Plans patient survey tool, which will gather patient perspectives on the quality of care received during a hospital stay.
     
The HCAHPS questions will look at:

overall ratings of the hospital;   
 
pain control; 

communication with doctors and nurses;   

responsiveness of hospital staff;
  communication about medicines;    

discharge information; and

cleanliness and quiet of the hospital environment.
     
"The recommended questions are meant to complement, not replace, information hospitals currently collect to support improvements they use to support their own improvements in customer service and care," CMS says.
 
The agency also wants feedback on new ambulatory care measures that focus on how well a physician treats certain illnesses. CMS Administrator Mark McClellan says that the agency plans to pay physicians to monitor, report on and improve beneficiary care for clinical conditions, such as coronary artery disease and heart failure, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, asthma, behavioral health, prenatal care and preventive care.
 
The revised HCAHPS measures can be found at www.cms.hhs.gov/quality/hospital and the proposed ambulatory care measures will be posted at www.cms.hhs.gov later this week.
 
The official request for public comment and input about the survey questions will be published in an upcoming Federal Register notice.
     
Lesson Learned: Providers need to prepare for more quality of care scrutiny from CMS.