The value-based purchasing program that Medicare plans to unroll in October could result in reduced payments to the nation’s safety-net hospitals.
A report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that safety-net hospitals receive lower scores in measures that Medicare will use as part of its new value-based purchasing program.  Those scores are based on data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey.
As a result of those lower scores, the article “Patient Experience in Safety-Net Hospitals:  Implications for Improving Care and Value-Based Purchasing” concluded that safety-net hospitals could receive lower Medicare payments that could affect their financial health.
Read a Kaiser Health News on the new study here and the Archives of Internal Medicine report itself here.