In response to the concerns of hospitals, Medicare is planning changes in its hospital-acquired condition reduction program.
The program, a product of the Affordable Care Act, penalizes hospitals that perform poorest on measures designed to identify medical problems their patients incur while hospitalized. Hospital performance is judged based on criteria developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
In the face of criticisms about the program’s design, overlapping measures, and more, CMS now plans to share more information with hospitals about how it scores their performance and also will update some of the measures upon which those scores are based.
A recent article in the journal Health Affairs describes the hospital-acquired condition reduction program, the challenges it has faced, and CMS’s plans for it moving forward. Find that article here.