The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to add five new patient experience of care measures that hospitals would report on beginning next fall. Currently hospitals must survey discharged patients on 27 Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) questions addressing experience of care… Continue Reading
Policy Experts Propose QIO Role in Malpractice Reform
The statutory authority QIOs have to promote local practice guidelines-while never used-could nonetheless prove useful in the effort to provide malpractice “safe harbors” for physicians, according to White Paper just published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute. While not a panacea, the authors argue that evidence-based practice guidelines could be useful… Continue Reading
Feds Identify Areas with Fastest Quality Improvement
All of the ten quality measures showing the most rapid pace of improvement nationwide are indicators featured on the federal Hospital-Compare and Nursing Home-Compare websites, according to findings from the annual healthcare disparities study released this spring by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ). Additionally, most of these measures are, or were… Continue Reading
Relatively Few Physician Practices Meet EHR Standard
While the vast majority of physicians in the U.S. are eligible to apply for Medicare or Medicaid incentives that support the use of electronic health record (EHR) systems, few practices actually meet the “meaningful use” standards required to receive such payments. That’s the conclusion from a survey of a representative sample of 3,996 physicians across… Continue Reading
IPRO to Support Warfarin Safety Study
The Albany NY-based Foundation for Quality Care, Inc. has received an empirical study grant from Medline Industries, Inc. for a project entitled: Warfarin Safety for Residents in Skilled Nursing Facilities. This study seeks to address the quality of therapeutic monitoring for the high risk drug, warfarin (a long term oral anticoagulant therapy medication). “Warfarin tops… Continue Reading
IPRO Offering Empowerment Workshops, Website
IPRO is offering a series of educational workshops aimed at supporting a patient and family-centered approach to empowering Medicare beneficiaries. Modeled on self-management workshops offered by IPRO to inner city Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes from 2008 to 2011, the sessions emphasize healthy living, empowerment and understanding Medicare rights. Workshops are held in English and Spanish… Continue Reading
NYS Health Commissioner to Keynote IPRO Annual Meeting
New York State Health Commissioner Nirav R. Shah, MD, MPH will keynote IPRO’s 28th Annual Membership Meeting, to be held Tuesday, June 5 at the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott Hotel in East Elmhurst, NY. Also speaking at the event is Janet Wright, MD, FACC, Executive Director of Million Hearts™, a national initiative launched by… Continue Reading
Hospitalists Win Prestigious Quality Award
The Society of Hospital Medicine-a Philadelphia-based national association representing hospitalists-is the winner of the 2011 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level. The Society is the first national medical association to win the award, which was established in 2002 by The Joint Commission… Continue Reading
HealthGrades® Characterizes Best-Performing Hospitals
Commercial report card developer HealthGrades® believes it has isolated the essential characteristics of the “100 Best Hospitals” it identifies in a publication it released this spring. The list is based on analysis of up to ten years worth of hospital-specific Medicare mortality and complication data. The essential characteristics seen as correlating with superior performance include:… Continue Reading
Watchdog Promotes Cooperative Anti-Fraud Effort
A recent decision by federal authorities to promote closer cooperation among Medicaid anti-fraud contractors is resulting in an increase in dollars saved, according to a new report from the Office of the Inspector General (IG) of the U.S. Department of Health and & Human Services. The IG’s Office examined savings achieved by the federal Medicaid… Continue Reading