Addressing the maternal health crisis and improving maternal health is a priority to advance health equity, and a quality improvement goal for CMS. To that end, CMS, as announced on Monday’s release of final rule, is adding a Maternal Morbidity measure to the hospital quality reporting program that would require hospitals to report whether they participate in statewide or national efforts to improve perinatal health, known as Quality Improvement (QI) initiatives. Many of the factors contributing to maternal morbidity are preventable, and differentially impact women of color. This measure is an important initial step toward implementation of patient safety practices to reduce maternal morbidity, and in turn, maternal mortality.
CMS is also adopting a measure that requires hospitals and long-term care hospitals to report COVID-19 vaccination rates of workers in their facilities. Having access to information about COVID-19 vaccination rates among health care personnel will help patients, caregivers, and their communities, make informed decisions when seeking care from hospitals, cancer centers and long-term care hospitals.
The final rule is effective October 1, 2021.
Read more:
- CMS Press release 8/2/2021: CMS Final Rule Improves Health Equity, Access to Treatment, Hospital Readiness, and COVID-19 Vaccination Data Reporting of Hospital WorkersÂ
- CMS-1752-F and CMS-1762-F