Quality & Patient Safety
The Issue
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to penalize hospitals for 鈥渆xcess鈥 readmissions when compared to 鈥渆xpected鈥 levels of readmissions. Since the start of the program on Oct. 1, 2012, hospitals have experienced nearly $1.9 billion鈥
Today, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) released the first in a planned series of reports that will identify 鈥渟ocial risk factors鈥 affecting the health outcomes of Medicare beneficiaries, and methods to account for these factors in Medicare payment programs like the Hospital Readmission鈥
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last week published a Request for Information related to certification of health information technology, including electronic health record products used for reporting to CMS quality programs such as the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting鈥
AHA's "Appropriate Use of Medical Resources" white paper offers innovative solutions for reducing non-beneficial healthcare services. Learn about appropriate blood management, antimicrobial stewardship, inpatient admissions, elective percutaneous coronary intervention, and intensive care unit use.
In an AHASTAT blog post today, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack responds to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis that questioned the recent reductions in hospital readmissions. 鈥淗ere is what the numbers show,鈥 Pollack writes.
Readmissions are falling fast thanks to the hard work of America鈥檚 hospitals to improve care, provide better discharge instructions to patients and partner with patients and others in their communities to coordinate care after they leave the hospital (Medicare Rules Reshape Hospital Readmissions,鈥
Progress is encouraging; continuous progress promises a better future.
Hospitals are making 鈥渟ubstantial progress in improving safety,鈥 according to a new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that found a 17% decline in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2014. That translates to 87,000 lives saved and nearly $20 billion in health care鈥