Premier-CMS project saved lives in first year: Premier

The lives of an estimated 235 people might have been saved because of quality improvements in heart-attack treatment during the first year of a three-year, Medicare pay-for-performance program for hospitals, according to a white paper by Premier. The hospital alliance is conducting the program with the CMS. The program rewards hospitals for improving their performance on outcomes and process measures in five clinical categories: heart attack, heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft, pneumonia, and hip and knee replacement. Premier's white paper did not estimate the lives saved by improvements in areas other than heart-attack care. Some 260 hospitals participated in the program's first year. Initial results were released last year. Read the white paper. Read an earlier Modern Healthcare report on the program's initial results. -- by Joseph Conn