CMS NEWS
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: CMS Media
Relations
CMS
Announces Two Medicare Quality Improvement Initiatives
Administration redoubles its efforts to improve quality of post-acute care for Medicare beneficiaries
Administration 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/Provider-Type/Home-Health-Agency-HHA-Center.html
Proposed
Rulemaking on Conditions of Participation for Home Health Agencies: Revision of
Requirements Fact Sheet
http://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2014-Fact-sheets-items/2014-10-06-2.html
CMS’ Five Star Quality Rating System for Nursing Homes Fact Sheet: http://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2014-Fact-sheets-items/2014-10-06.html
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