The Obama Administration is holding off from publishing new hospital-quality ratings over concerns raised by healthcare providers and Congress over the methodology of the ratings system, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were slated to begin publishing start-ratings for hospitals to help patients compare the quality of service at the facilities, but the date for the release has been pushed back to July, according to federal officials.
The ratings are tied to patient care experiences at approximately 3,500 Medicare-certified acute care hospitals, with measures from patient experience to cleanliness. The data will eventually be displayed in the form of ratings on CMS’s “Hospital Compare” website, the paper said.
During the delay, talks will be underway with hospitals to analyze how the ratings are compiled. CMS said the new timeline release was in response to hospital and other stakeholder feedback, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“CMS is committed to quality improvement and transparency for people with Medicare,” the agency said in a notice.
The American Hospital Association said the ratings system didn’t consider factors that could negatively affect treatment outcomes, such as low income patient numbers and patients with multiple chronic conditions.
Members of Congress also presented doubts in the system, the paper reports.
“We are concerned that the star rating system may be misleading to consumers due to flaws in the measures that underpin the ratings,” congress members wrote in a letter to CMS acting administrator Andy Slavitt.
The post US gov’t delays CMS hospital rating system appeared first on MassDevice.
from MassDevice http://ift.tt/244iyiF
Cap comentari:
Publica un comentari a l'entrada