The CMS on Friday added new patient experience and quality measures on the comparison website for dialysis centers, as it tries to tinker with a site the industry has criticized.
The CMS began posting star ratings on its Dialysis Facility Compare website in January 2015 despite industry concerns the ratings were difficult to understand and inconsistent with similar models.
A Modern Healthcare analysis last year found that most kidney-care providers have mediocre ratings, and that Fresenius Medical Care operated half of Medicare's lowest-rated facilities.
A report released about a year ago from a technical expert panel found the project's methodology was flawed, and the information was of low relevance to patients. Some of the panel's recommendations were included in the changes announced Friday.
Kate Goodrich, director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at the CMS, said in a blog post that the changes reflected feedback from patients who said they wanted to know how other patients rated the cleanliness and staff treatment at facilities.
“CMS remains committed to seeking and incorporating input from all stakeholders, but especially patients, on an ongoing basis so that we can continually improve our Compare sites and make healthcare quality information more transparent and understandable for patients and their caregivers,” she wrote.
Six measures from the In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey will now be reported. Three cover specific aspects of patient experience, and the other three are about how patients viewed doctors and other staff at the center.
