Becker's Hospital Review

53 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY CMS revamps quality strategy: 5 things to know By Mackenzie Bean C MS Administrator Seema Verma un- veiled a quality strategy that aims to streamline reporting and reduce physi- cian burnout at the agency's 2020 Quality Con- ference in Baltimore. Five things to know: 1. e reimagined strategy is based on a frame- work CMS launched in April 2019 to promote safety and quality in nursing homes. "is framework … was so successful that we de- cided to replicate it across the agency and in all our programs in 2020 and beyond," Ms. Verma said in a Feb. 25 speech at the CMS conference. 2. e new quality strategy will focus on four main pillars: • Establish clear and reasonable quality expectations through government stan- dards and quality measures. • Improve oversight and enforcement of quality standards to ensure accountability. • Promote transparency, competition and consumer choice by sharing quality in- formation with the public. • Modernize quality improvement efforts through advances in data analytics and technology. 3. As part of this effort, CMS plans to launch its Merit-Based Incentive Program Value Path- ways in 2021, according to Medscape. Instead of using general quality measures, the path- ways will allow physicians to select measure sets that relate to their specific specialty or pa- tient population. 4. e agency will also roll out its Meaning- ful Measures 2.0 framework in the coming months, Ms. Verma said. e initiative's ulti- mate goal is to automatically send quality data from providers' EHRs to a centralized submis- sion system, so physicians "don't have to li a finger," she added. 5. CMS also plans to increase its oversight of accrediting organizations to streamline the way they are inspecting providers and elimi- nate any conflicts of interest among agencies that also charge for consulting services. n Pennsylvania hospital cited over 2nd patient death in 2 months By Mackenzie Bean H ealth officials cited WellSpan York (Pa.) Hospital over a patient's death in October 2019, which represents the second such citation the hos- pital received over a two-month period last year, according to a state report cited by the York Dispatch. The Pennsylvania Department of Health investigated the more recent patient death and determined that hospital employees "failed to maintain a safe en- vironment for the patient's condition," according to the report, released in February 2020. Records show the patient's oxygen levels and heart rate rapidly dropped while hospitalized at York Hospital. However, employees failed to notify members of the patient's care team about the vital-sign changes, the report found. The patient died about 30 minutes after his or her vitals fell on Oct. 17, 2019, CBS 21 News reported. WellSpan conducted an internal review of the incident and determined that a "communication issue regarding vital sign monitoring had occurred" in- volving the patient, who was "seriously ill and had complex medical condi- tions," the health system said in a statement cited by CBS 21 News. York Hospital has since implemented protocols and reporting processes for patients in serious condition to prevent a similar situation from occurring. The state health department has approved a plan of correction submitted by WellSpan and does not intend to impose any additional sanctions or fines. The death occurred just two months after a different patient died in York Hospital's emergency department after being left unattended for more than an hour. n 14-day quarantine for coronavirus is appropriate, study suggests By Anuja Vaidya S ymptoms of the illness caused by the new coronavirus develop between five to 14 days after a person is infected, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers analyzed news reports and press releases from 50 provinces, regions and countries outside of Wuhan, China. They studied information about 181 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported between Jan. 4 and Feb. 24. They found that the median incubation period for the virus was estimated to be 5.1 days, and that most people who develop symptoms (97.5 percent) will do so within 11.5 days of contracting the virus. Fourteen days is the standard length of quarantine or active monitoring cur- rently being used in the public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. "Our results support current proposals for the length of quarantine or ac- tive monitoring of persons potentially exposed to SARS-CoV-2, although longer monitoring periods might be justified in extreme cases," study authors wrote. n

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