Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Plus: Getting your 2007 payments should be smooth sailing. Care quality improved by 7.8 percent in hospitals, compared to 3.2 percent in ambulatory care settings and only 1 percent in nursing homes and home health care, according to HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The reason behind the improvement in hospital care is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) recent employment of Quality Improvement Organizations, AHRQ analysts say.

AHRQ recently released two annual reports on health care quality and disparities: the 2006 National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report.

"Quality improvement programs initiated by HHS are clearly enhancing health care in the nation, particularly within hospitals," AHRQ's director, Carolyn Clancy, MD, said in a statement. "Everyone is benefiting -- the professionals who provide care, the insurers who help pay for care and the patients who receive care. But we can do much more to prevent or delay the occurrence of serious conditions."

To view the National Healthcare Quality Report, go to www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhgr06/nhgr06.htm.

The National Healthcare Disparities Report is also available online at www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr06/nhdr06.htm.