CMS won't require hospitals to submit CDC data on MRSA infections

AHA News writes: Responding to concerns about imposing a “severe burden” on hospitals, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services May 7 notified hospitals that it has reversed course and no longer is requiring them to submit to the Buccaneer Data Systems Clinical Data Abstraction Center data that theyp reviously reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Methicillian-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in patients. CMS’ Office of Clinical Standards and Quality withdrew its April 29 requirement for the data, which it said was intended to help estimate the accuracy of MRSA data reported to CDC and to assess the “accuracy of medical record-abstracted information at a hospital level, relative to national rates collected in other initiatives.” In its May 7 letter, the agency said it is dropping the requirement to send the data, after listening to hospitals and “national and state association feedback about the severe burden to hospitals.” CMS said hospitals that submit the data voluntarily will be reimbursed for their costs.