Recorded presentation

Myles Maxfield, PhD, Mathematica Policy Research, 600 Maryland Ave., S.W., Suite 550, Washington, DC 20024, 202-484-4682, mmaxfield@mathematica-mpr.com and David Miranda, PhD, Center for Beneficiary Services, Health Care Financing Administration, 7500 Security Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21244.

Research Objective: Section 502 of the Prescription Drug and Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) effectively requires that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implement a national program for public reporting of hospital quality measures. This evaluation study extracts lessons from implementing the National Voluntary Hospital Reporting Initiative (NVHRI), sponsored by three national hospital associations and currently reported on www.cms.hhs.gov, and applies those lessons to implementing the Section 502 program.

Study Design: Semi-structured interviews with senior managers and quality improvement directors at 30 hospitals, officials of eight of quality improvement organizations (QIOs), and officials of the four program sponsors.

Population Studied: The populations served by the NVHRI are healthcare consumers, providers and purchasers.

Principal Findings: The initial focus on selecting quality measures, rather than on communications and logistics, combined with rushing the program roll-out, led to implementation difficulties. These difficulties resulted in empty cells and inaccurate data on the website, data processing struggles, and frustration for participants.

Conclusions: CMS should resolve the communications, structural, and logistical issues revealed by the NVHRI.

Implications for Policy, Delivery or Practice: Hospital quality public reporting programs require coordinated communication to stakeholders, clear roles and responsibilities, smoothly operating data processing, comprehensive documentation, training, and technical assistance.

Primary Funding Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Learning Objectives:

• The participant will understand better how to implement a national hospital quality public reporting program.

Keywords: Quality Improvement, Health Care Quality

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation