The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to add new patient safety measures to its Hospital Compare Web site in 2011 that will track hospital-acquired condition and healthcare associated infections. The Hospital Compare Web site aims to improve the quality, efficiency and transparency of care in the agency’s Medicare fee-for-service program by publicizing the information about hospitals’ treatment operations, and giving consumers a tool to make decisions about which providers to use based on that data. CMS also plans to start displaying composite measures that summarize both process and outcome quality measures. Process of care measures report how well a hospital provides care and outcome measures reflect the results of the care that beneficiaries received while in the hospital. The measures include assessments of heart attack, pneumonia and surgical care.
Read more at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-29076.htm