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CMS Announces Two Medicare Quality Improvement InitiativesAdministration redoubles its efforts to improve quality of post-acute care for Medicare beneficiaries
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two initiatives to improve the quality of post-acute care. First, the expansion and strengthening of the agency’s widely-used Five Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes will improve consumer information about individual nursing homes’ quality. Second, proposed new conditions of participation for home health agencies will modernize Medicare’s Home Health Agency Conditions of Participation to ensure safe delivery of quality care to home health patients.
“We are focused on using as many tools as are available to promote quality improvement and better outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries,” said Marilyn Tavenner, CMS administrator. “Whether it is the regulations that guide provider practices or the information we provide directly to consumers, our primary goal is improving outcomes.”
Nursing Home Five-Star Rating System
Beginning in 2015, CMS will implement the following improvements to the Nursing Home Five Star Quality Rating System:
- Nationwide Focused Survey Inspections:investigating the coding of
- Payroll-Based Staffing Reporting: CMS will implement a quarterly electronic reporting system that is auditable back to payrolls to verify staffing
- Additional Quality Measures: CMS will increase both the number and type of quality measures used in the Five-Star Quality Rating System
- Timely and Complete Inspection Data: CMS will also
- Improved Scoring Methodology:
“Nursing homes are working to improve their quality, and we are improving how we measure that quality,” said Patrick Conway, M.D., deputy administrator for innovation and quality and CMS chief medical officer. “We believe the improvements we are making to the Five Star system will add confidence that the reported improvements are genuine, are sustained, and are benefiting residents.”
Home Health Conditions of Participation
The proposed Home Health Conditions of Participation would improve the quality of home health services for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries by strengthening patient rights and improving communication that focuses on patient wellbeing. Currently there are more than 5 million people with Medicare and Medicaid benefits that receive home health care services each year from approximately 12,500 Medicare-certified home health agencies.
The proposed regulation, to be displayed Monday, October 6, at the Federal Register, would modernize the home health regulations for the first time since 1989 with a focus on patient-centered, well-coordinated care. Elements in the regulation include expansion of patient rights requirements; refocusing of the patient assessment on physical, mental, emotional, and psychosocial conditions; improved communication systems and requirements for a data-driven quality assessment; and performance improvement (QAPI) program.
For more information, visit: http://www.cms.gov/Center/
CMS’ Five Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes Fact Sheet: http://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/
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