Proposed CMS rule adds quality measures

The CMS has proposed the addition of 10 new quality measures hospitals would need to report on in order to receive full reimbursement for 2012. The changes are included in the CMS' latest proposed revisions to the Inpatient Prospective Payment System.

In the proposed rule, the CMS added eight categories of hospital-acquired conditions that are currently listed by the CMS as grounds for nonpayment. If finalized, hospitals will be required to begin reporting on their incidences of foreign objects retained after surgery; air embolisms; blood incompatibility; stage III and stage IV pressure ulcers; falls and trauma; vascular catheter-associated infections; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; and manifestations of poor glycemic control.

The CMS also proposed adding reporting requirements for two more patient safety indicators—postoperative respiratory failure, and postoperative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis—from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Under the rule, hospitals would be required to begin reporting on all 10 of these measures on Jan. 1, 2011, for use in determining the annual payment update for 2012, according to a CMS spokeswoman.

But the changes don't stop there. The agency also proposed another 35 quality measures, which hospitals would also be required to begin reporting on in January 2011, but those results would not be used in determining full reimbursement until 2013. Those measures include statin at discharge, postoperative renal failure and prolonged intubation.

Additionally, the agency proposed four more measures, including immunizations for pneumonia and influenza, which hospitals would need to begin reporting on Jan. 1, 2012, for use in determining payment for 2014.