AHA News reports the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its fiscal year 2009 inpatient prospective payment system final rule, which scales back the proposed increase of 43 new quality measures hospitals must report to receive a full market basket update in 2010. Currently, hospitals must report on 30 measures to receive the 3.6% full market basket update in FY 2009. Hospitals not submitting data would receive a 1.6% update.
In the rule, CMS removed one current measure related to pneumonia and added 13 more; however, only four of those have been adopted by the Hospital Quality Alliance. CMS also finalized two additional health care-acquired conditions for which it will no longer pay a higher DRG rate beginning in FY 2009 if not present on admission, and expanded one condition adopted in last year’s rule.
The 13 new measures include:
– SCIP Card 2 (1)
– Failure to Rescue (nursing sensitive measure) (1)
– Hospital Failure Readmission (1)
– AHRQ Measures (9)
– Participation in Cardiac Surgery Database (1)
All of the above are based/calculated from Medicare claims data, except for the SCIP Card 2 measure which will be provided to CMS by chart abstraction.
The final rule will be published in the Aug. 18 Federal Register and takes effect Oct. 1.
– CMS Press Release: MEDICARE AND MEDICAID MOVE AGGRESSIVELY TO ENCOURAGE GREATER PATIENT SAFETY IN HOSPITALS AND REDUCE NEVER EVENTS