CMS rolls out five-star scale to rank hospitals on patient experience -AND- Bill that would increase Medi-Cal rates wins unanimous committee vote

CAL/AAEM News Service calaaem.news.service1 at gmail.com
Wed May 13 18:37:52 PDT 2015


 
April 16, 2015
 
CMS rolls out five-star scale to rank hospitals on patient experience
 
 
Fierce Healthcare
 
 
By Leslie Small

In an attempt to simplify hospital quality ratings for consumers, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has unveiled a new feature on its Hospital Compare website that ranks facilities on a five-star scale, CMS announced Thursday.

The star ratings will use data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, which measures patient experience at the nearly 3,500 Medicare-certified acute care hospitals according to metrics such as facility cleanliness, staff responsiveness and clinician communication. CMS will assign a star rating to each of the 11 publicly reported HCAHPS measures as well as a summary rating for each hospital. The agency also said it plans to update the ratings each quarter.

Only 251 hospitals--or 7 percent of those ranked--received a five-star rating under the new system, Kaiser Health News reported. The largest share of hospitals (40 percent) received three stars, including highly respected institutions such as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Only 3 percent of hospitals netted one star. 

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has been critical of the plan to phase in star ratings, arguing that how CMS weights the rankings fails to account for "a range of socioeconomic factors" beyond hospitals' control and thus would unfairly penalize facilities that treat larger numbers of disadvantaged patients,FierceHealthFinance reported. Furthermore, "there's a risk of oversimplifying the complexity of quality care or misinterpreting what is important to a particular patient, especially since patients seek care for many different reasons," Akin Demehin, AHA's senior associate director of policy, wrote in an email toHospitals & Health Networks Daily.  

But CMS Acting Principal Deputy Administrator Patrick Conway, M.D., said in the announcement that the star ratings will "make it easier for consumers to use the information on the Hospital Compare website and spotlight excellence in healthcare quality" as well as "encourage hospitals and clinicians to strive to continuously improve the patient experience and quality of care delivered to all patients." CMS also plans to eventually use the star ratings to rank hospitals on measures such as clinical outcomes and patient safety, Conway told KHN.

CMS already uses star ratings for other consumer-geared websites such asNursing Home Compare, Physician Compare, Home Health Compare andMedicare Plan Finder, according to a fact sheet from the agency. Though Hospital Compare already features an "Overall Hospital Rating" measure, CMS states that "each measure is valid and useful to consumers." The agency also encourages consumers to discuss hospital quality with their healthcare professionals when selecting a facility for treatment.
 
 
 
 
April 20, 2015
 
Bill that would increase Medi-Cal rates wins unanimous committee vote
 
 
CMA Alert


A California Assembly bill that would raise California’s Medicaid (Medi-Cal) reimbursement rates for providers took its first step through the state legislature on April 14, receiving unanimous approval from the Assembly Health Committee.

Under AB 366, authored by state Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), dramatic improvements would be made in the Medi-Cal system by restoring cuts made to Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, then raising them to Medicare levels. California is currently 47th in the country’s Medicaid reimbursement rates.

Luther F. Cobb, M.D., president of the California Medical Association, testified in support of the bill, saying the “abysmally low rates” currently in place can make it extremely difficult for physicians to keep their practice running. Those low rates also make it hard for Medi-Cal patients to find true access to care.

In one example, Dr. Cobb described a situation in which a Los Angeles woman died from cancer after several unsuccessful attempts to get the care she needed.

“Despite the assurances that you hear from the Department of Health Care Services, we all know these tragedies happen far too often across our state,” Dr. Cobb said. “This has to be addressed, and it has to be addressed now.”

The bill also received strong support from many of the committee members.

“We all represent pretty diverse districts,” Committee Vice-Chair Brian Maienschein (R-Rancho Bernardo) said, “but I think the one thing we have in common is the importance of this issue — I mean all of us I think are united on that. This is critical to California’s future.”

The bill passed 16-0, with three members abstaining. It now moves on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Senator Ed Hernandez has authored an identical bill, SB 243, which will be heard in the Senate Health Committee on April 22.
 
 
 
 
 
Bryan Sloane
Deputy Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service
 
Brian Potts MD, MBA
Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service

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