ASC quality reporting deadlines moved up in 2018
On November 1, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final rule for the 2018 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System/ASC Payment System and Quality Reporting Programs. In summary, several ambulatory surgery center (ASC) measures (ASC-1 to ASC-14) are unaffected, except that three measures (ASC-5, -6,…
Examining surgical outcomes to identify procedures needing additional QI efforts
Editor's Note This analysis of 10 surgical procedures accrued into the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) between 2008 and 2015, identified which procedures improved the most from QI efforts and which needed more. Hepatectomy demonstrated the greatest improvement across the greatest number of outcomes…
Joint Commission chooses Apervita platform to ease eCQM submission
Editor's Note The Joint Commission has selected Chicago-based Apervita’s platform to enable thousands of hospitals with ORYX data reporting requirement to directly submit electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data in 2018, the November 14 Healthcare Informatics reports. Since the shift to eCQM data submission began 2 years ago, the Joint…
Joint Commission: More accredited hospitals submitting eCQM data
Editor's Note Despite the expansion of requirements for electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) reporting to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an increased number of Joint Commission accredited hospitals are adopting and reporting eCQMs to drive quality improvement, the Joint Commission reports. In 2016, 470 accredited hospitals submitted eCQM…
Value of voluntary bundled-payment program unclear
Editor's Note For the third year in a row, researchers with the Lewin Group couldn’t determine whether Medicare’s voluntary Bundled Payment for Care Improvement initiative cuts costs and improves care, the October 31 Modern Healthcare reports. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funded analysis found that although providers…
ACS NSQIP recognizes 66 hospitals for meritorious outcomes
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) on October 18 recognized 66 of 680 hospitals participating in the adult program for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2016. ACS NSQIP hospitals are required to track outcomes for inpatient and outpatient…
Effect of hospital-wide measure of readmissions for HRRP
Editor's Note Changing to a hospital-wide measure of readmissions for the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) would result in only 76 more hospitals being eligible to receive penalties, but it would substantially increase the penalties for safety-net hospitals, this study finds. For the analysis, researchers used Medicare claims from 2011…
Survey finds nearly three-quarters of physicians prefer fee-for-service models
Editor's Note A survey of 980 physicians in eight specialties by New York City-based Bain and Company found that 73% prefer fee-for-service rather than value-based care models because of concerns about the complexity and quality of care associated with value-based models, the October 12 Healthcare Informatics reports. More than 60%…
ACS NSQIP pilot identifies geriatric–specific risk factors that affect surgical outcomes
Editor's Note A new pilot study from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) finds that adding geriatric-specific risk factors to traditional risk factors could significantly improve the ability of surgeons to predict poor surgical outcomes in older patients. The study involved 36,399 older surgical…
Frailty linked to increased morbidity after ambulatory general surgery
Editor's Note Frailty was associated with postoperative morbidity in patients having ambulatory general surgery procedures, independent of age, type of anesthesia, and other comorbidities, this study finds. In this study of 140,828 patients older than 40 years of age, frailty was associated with increased adjusted odds of 30-day morbidity after…
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