Two newly-proposed quality measures from CMS would promote health data exchange in inpatient rehabilitation facilities.
A new proposed rule from CMS updating Medicare payment policies for inpatient rehabilitation facilities includes two quality measures intended to promote health data exchange between providers and patients in post-acute care settings.
These measures are included in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Quality Reporting Program (IRF QPP) for fiscal year 2020.
“The IRF QRP collects and publishes data on quality measures and collects standardized patient assessment data,” wrote CMS in an IRF QPP fact sheet. “IRFs that do not satisfy the requirements of the IRF QRP for a fiscal year receive a two percent reduction to their annual increase factor for discharges for that fiscal year.”
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As part of the 2020 IRF QPP proposed rule, CMS is suggesting a Transfer of Health Information to the Provider Post Acute Care Measure and a Transfer of Health Information to the Patient Post Acute Care Measure.
“These proposed measures will improve patient safety by ensuring that the patient’s medication list is accurate and complete at the time of transfer or discharge,” stated CMS.
The denominator for the proposed measure represents the total number of IRF patient stays ending in a discharge to a subsequent provider.
“The proposed measure numerator is the number of IRF patient stays with an IRF-PAI discharge assessment indicating a current reconciled medication list was provided to the subsequent provider at the time of discharge,” stated CMS in the proposed rule.
The Transfer of Health Information to Patient measure is a process-based measure assessing whether a current reconciled medication list was provided to a patient, family, or caregiver upon a patient’s discharge from a post-acute care setting.
“These two proposed measures also fulfill CMS’s strategic initiatives to promote effective communication and coordination of care, specifically in the Meaningful Measure Initiative areas of the transfer of health information and interoperability,” CMS stated.
The CMS Meaningful Measures initiative launched in 2017 as an effort to reduce the number of quality metrics to only those most vital to high quality care delivery and improved patient health outcomes.
The care quality measures initiative was designed to reduce the administrative burden of reporting requirements across all CMS programs. The initiative drew on feedback from LAN, the National Academies of Medicine, the Core Quality Measures Collaborative, and the National Quality Forum.
The two new quality measures proposed as part of the IRF QPP for 2020 may help to promote the communication of patient health data such as reconciled medication lists to enable better-informed care delivery.
“Incomplete or missing health information, such as medication information, increases the likelihood of a patient safety risk, often life-threatening,” cautioned CMS. “Individuals who use PAC care services are particularly vulnerable to adverse health outcomes due to their higher likelihood of having multiple comorbid chronic conditions, polypharmacy, and complicated transitions between care settings.”
In addition to these quality measures, the proposed rule also includes updates to IRF payments, including revisions to the case-mix groups and updates to CMS relative weights and average length of stays.
CMS is accepting public comments on the proposed rule until June 17, 2019.
Date: April 23, 2019
Source: EHR Intelligence