Nearly all hospitals support the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in moving forward with a pay-for-performance program over the next few years, but selecting the right measures will be a critical element of future success, according to a new report by Mathematica Policy Research. The findings are based on a 2005 survey of hospital executives that Mathematica conducted for CMS, which explored hospitals’ views on a future CMS pay-for-performance initiative and the quality measures it should include.
Most hospitals participating in the Hospital Quality Alliance supported using that program’s original 10 measures or a modestly expanded set of measures, while most hospitals participating in the CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration favored using or expanding that program’s 35 measures. “In choosing measures, CMS will need to strike a balance between including a large number of measures to estimate hospital quality accurately in important clinical areas, and overwhelming hospitals with new measures they have not been reporting,” said lead author Suzanne Felt-Lisk.
[ via AHA News Now ]
