CMS adds new quality measures to two Compare sites

The CMS announced Tuesday that it added four new quality measures for healthcare consumers to view on the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility and Long-Term Care Hospital Compare websites.

The additions to the sites come as the CMS works to improve the Hospice Compare website, which fell under scrutiny shortly after it launched in August for showing patients inaccurate information about providers.

The CMS' suite of Compare sites were mandated under the Affordable Care Act and designed to encourage Medicare beneficiaries to seek out high-quality healthcare. CMS Administrator Seema Verma has publicly touted her commitment to improving patients' access to information that allows them to shop for their care.

The measures that have been added to the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility and Long-Term Care Hospital Compare websites focus on vaccination and infection rates.

Both sites will now include the percentage of patients and employees who were given the flu vaccine. The sites will also now display facility-wide data on the amount of patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a common hospital infection, and the Clostridium difficile infection.

The Long-Term Care Hospital Compare site also includes the percentage of patients with pressure ulcers, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections and unplanned 30-day readmissions.

The Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Compare website will also show the percentage of patients with pressure ulcers, catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates and unplanned readmissions.