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CMS Issues Final FY2013 Payment and Policy Changes for Acute and Long-Term Care Hospitals

Posted on 8/2/2012 by NTOCC ® in Public Policy Updates
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Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule for hospitals paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS). As you may recall, NTOCC submitted formal comments to CMS in support of several proposed quality measures, and provided recommendations for enhancement.

 

  • Adding the “3-Item Care Transitions Measure” (CTM-3), developed by Dr. Eric Coleman, to the existing Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey;
  • The inclusion of a hospital wide readmission measure in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program; and
  • The inclusion of two process measures for creating and transmitting a care plan in the psychiatric facilities quality reporting program.

We are excited to report that all three of the above NTOCC supported measures were included in the final rule. With regard to NTOCC’s recommendation to include patient lab results and pending tests in the care plan measures for psychiatric facilities, CMS agreed this was an important component of a care plan, but decided not to make it a data requirement in the final rule.  
 
In addition, CMS clearly stated in the final rule that transitions will be a priority for the agency: “Promoting quality improvements leading to successful transition of care for patients from acute care to outpatient setting, and reducing short term, preventable hospital-wide readmission rates are CMS’ priority objectives.”

Click here to view the final rule.
 
CMS press release

General Fact Sheet

Quality Fact Sheet

Tags: Public Policy Updates