CMS Announces New Federal Health Care Programs

The federal government has recently released the following two new health care programs:

• Partnership for Patients
• Value-Based Purchasing

Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs
 
The Partnership for Patients is a new public-private partnership designed to help improve the quality, safety, and affordability of health care for all Americans.  The program brings together leaders of major hospitals, employers, physicians, nurses and patient advocates along with state and federal governments in a shared effort to make hospital care safer, more reliable, and less costly,
 
Using $1 billion in new funding provided by the Affordable Care Act and leveraging a number of ongoing programs, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will work with a wide variety of public and private partners to achieve the two goals of the partnership which are to: 

• Keep patients from getting injured or sicker – The goals is that by the end of 2013, preventable hospital-acquired conditions would decrease by 40% compared to 2010.
• Help patients heal without complication – By the end of 2013 the program hopes to decrease preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another so that all hospital readmissions would be reduced by 20% compared to 2010

The Innovation Center at CMS will provide over $500 million to test models of safer care delivery and implementation of practices in patient safety as well as devote another $500 million to a Community-based Care Transition Program to support hospitals and organizations in helping Medicare beneficiaries at high risk for readmission to hospitals and other care settings. 
 
The administration believes this program has the potential to save up to $35 billion dollars across the health care system, including up to $10 billion in Medicare savings over the next three years.  In ten years, savings are expected to be about $50 billion to Medicare and billions more in Medicaid savings.
 
To learn more to or join this program, click below.

Partnership for Patients

  
Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program
 
On April 29, 2011, CMS issued the final rule under the Affordable Care Act, establishing a program to reward hospitals for the quality of care they provide to people with Medicare.  The Hospital VBP program is designed to promote better clinical outcomes for hospital patients as well as improve their experience of care during hospital stays.  For the first time, 3,500 hospitals across the country will be paid for inpatient acute care services based on care quality, not just the quantity of services they provide.
 
In FY 2013, an estimated $850 million will be allocated to the hospitals based on their overall performance on a set of quality measures that have been shown to improve clinical processes of care and patient satisfaction.  The fund will gradually increase over time, resulting in a shift from payments based on volume to payments based on performance.
 
For more information, including the quality measures instituted for the first year, please click below.
 
Hospital Value Based Program

Tags: Healthcare Reform