To optimize payments and reimbursement in emerging value-based care models, hospitals and health systems need to more proactively measure and improve clinical and financial performance across a myriad of quality and patient safety measures and programs. The inherent challenges to achieving these goals are daunting, expensive and increasingly burdensome to all stakeholders in value-based care: […]
Value-based Purchasing and Reimbursement: The Business Case for Improving Quality and Patient Safety
In the increasingly competitive, transparent and value-based healthcare economy, hospitals and health systems in Western PA and throughout the nation are facing increasing financial pressure from healthcare purchasers and payers to improve patient care outcomes. At the center of value-based purchasing and reimbursement, performance against numerous measures of quality and patient safety performance also heighten […]
Patient Monitoring and Alarm Fatigue
Alarm fatigue continues to be a major healthcare concern, ranking third on the ECRI Institute’s Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2017. So manufacturers and their customer hospitals persist in exploring ways to reduce the incidence of this patient and clinical staff safety hazard. Mechanical ventilators are often one of the major sources of an […]
CMS Star Ratings Fail to Reflect True Clinical Quality
Hospital executives and other stakeholders should be aware that a new research study1 challenges the idea that CMS hospital star ratings based solely on patient experiences can serve as a reliable indicator for clinical quality. This study follows a wake of industry criticism regarding a recent research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine based on […]
Becker’s Hospital Review: Hospitals with high patient experience star ratings don’t have better outcomes, new analysis finds
CMS started awarding five-star ratings to hospitals based solely on HCAHPS scores in April of last year, and one year later, a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine claimed the patient satisfaction-based ratings actually are associated with patient outcomes. However, a recently released study from Quantros produced contrary findings. According to Quantros’s research, that letter’s findings are “misleading and may actually […]
Study throws cold water on link between star ratings and clinical outcomes
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ star-ratings system has already been the target of considerable criticism, and a new study finds that the ratings’ emphasis on patient experience doesn’t produce reliable care quality data. Researchers from Quantros, a safety and quality software provider, sent an advance copy of the study to FierceHealthcare. The studyanalyzed all CMS-rated hospitals on a combination of […]
Population Health News: Healthcare Quality, Safety Measurement: The Journey Is Slow, but Goals Make Effort Worthwhile
The pursuit of defining and measuring both clinical quality and patient safety in healthcare is a laudable goal that features inextricably linked essential elements. Would anyone question perfecting the stopping power of Porsche brakes, the side impact protection of Volvo roll cages or the road handling of Michelin tires in terms of accident protection and […]
Healthcare Finance News: With ICD-10 rollout past, healthcare providers brace for quality coding deadline
While the changeover to ICD-10 has gotten most of the attention, there are even more coding challenges on the horizon as providers prepare for mandatory quality reporting measure set to begin in 2017. As with all of healthcare, coding is now moving toward quality. And what has to this point been optional, next year will become required. […]
