A federal watchdog wants the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to get better at ensuring its quality measures actually match its strategic objectives aimed at improving care quality and reducing “unnecessary” burdens for providers.
The recommendation was made in a new report by the Government Accountability Office that reviewed how the agency develops and uses quality measures used to assess the care of Medicare providers.
The report also found that CMS should maintain more complete information on how it funds its quality measurement activities, and develop and use performance indicators to evaluate the agency’s progress in achieving its objectives.
The Department of Health and Human Services agreed with the suggestions.
“CMS’ decisions to select quality measures or develop new ones have a major influence over what is known about the quality of care provided to patients, and over how healthcare providers are paid,” the report stated.
CMS’ “Meaningful Measures” initiative sets strategic objectives to guide its development and use of quality measures, the report noted. The objectives focus on ways to produce substantial improvement in healthcare and reduce provider burden associated with reporting on information on the objectives.
From the November 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
