Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

14 Sign up for the Free Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control E-Weekly at www.beckersasc.com/clinicalquality. Study: Higher Patient Satisfaction is Linked to Lower Hospital Readmissions By Sabrina Rodak  H ospitals with low readmission rates tend to have high patient satisfaction scores, according to a report by Press Ganey Associates. The report, "The Relationship Between HCAHPS Performance and Readmission Penalties," is the first in a series of studies that will examine aspects of patient experience. Press Ganey used data on hospitals' readmission penalties and hospitals' scores on CMS' Value-Based Purchasing program to determine the connection between patient satisfaction, clinical performance and readmission rates. The report showed that while higher scores on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey were closely tied to lower readmission rates, performance on clinical measures did not correlate with readmission rates. Overall HCAHPS scores of 0 to 19 were associated with a 0.4 percent readmission penalty — much higher than the average. In contrast, HCAHPS scores of 80 to 100 were associated with a 0.1 percent readmission penalty — much lower than average. n Sign Up for the Free Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control E-Weekly at www.beckersasc.com/ clinicalquality. The Joint Commission to Add 2 Medical/Surgical Hospital Requirements By Sabrina Rodak  T he Joint Commission announced it will expand performance measurement requirements for accredited general medical/surgical hospitals from four to six core measure sets, effective Jan. 1, 2014. The additional requirements are part of The Joint Commission's ORYX performance measurement initiative to stimulate and guide quality improvement efforts. The four current measure sets required for general medical/surgical hospitals include acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia and the Surgical Care Improvement Project. The new fifth measure set, the perinatal care measure set, will be required for hospitals with at least 1,100 births per year. The new sixth measure set (or fifth and sixth measure sets for hospitals with fewer than 1,100 births per year) will be chosen by general medical/surgical hospitals from the approved list of core measure sets, which include children's asthma care, emergency department care, hospital-based inpatient psychiatric services, hospital outpatients, immunization, tobacco treatment, stroke, substance use and venous thromboembolism. Hospitals must modify and update measure set selections two months before data collection begins Jan. 1, 2014. However, data for the new measure sets will not be used in calculating Performance Improvement Standard PI.02.01.03 or the Top Performers on Key Quality Measures program until sufficient data are received, according to the release. This provision will enable hospitals between 12 and 23 months to gain experience with the new measure sets before the data are incorporated in performance calculations. Critical access hospitals and specialty hospitals, such as children's hospitals and psychiatric hospitals, will continue to follow current performance measurement requirements. n CMS to Develop Survey on Patient Experience in the ED By Sabrina Rodak  T he Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is seeking input on the development of a survey of patient experience in the emergency department. CMS is designing a survey to measure patients' experiences in the ED as part of HHS' National Quality Strategy developed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. CMS plans to submit the survey to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for recognition as a Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey. The primary focus is a survey for consumers and patients aged 18 and older, but CMS is also interested in a survey for pediatric patients, according to the request. CMS seeks suggestions for topic areas, such as "communication with providers" and "waiting time" as well as publicly available instruments for measuring patient experiences with emergency care. CMS is looking for instruments that have the following two elements: 1.  he source of information is from consumers and patients who directly received care at an T ED or caregivers who were directly involved in the care (e.g., parents of young children). 2. Patients or caregivers identified the information as important to them in evaluating ED care (e.g., wait time and medical staff and physician communication). Instruments that have been tested, have a high degree of reliability and validity and have been used widely are preferred, according to the request. n

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