David
Gifford, MD, MPH
AHCA Senior Vice President, Quality & Regulatory
Affairs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) reported yesterday that starting on July 27 at 10 AM ET the
Quality Measure (QM) component of the Five-Star Rating System will reflect five
of the six new QMs that are currently featured on Nursing
Home Compare (NHC).
In March the agency announced this and other changes. For a summary of
that presentation and a list of the new measures, click here.
CMS also announced that it has posted an
updated Technical User's Guide on its website here. On the second page of
the guide, there is a short list of the overall changes skilled nursing care
centers can expect. Below are the key changes outlined in the
guide:
- The five new QMs will be phased in between July 2016 and January 2017.
- In July 2016, they will have 50 percent of the weight of the current measures.
- In January 2017, they will have the same weight as the current measures.
- The methodological changes that will be introduced in July include:
- Reducing the minimum denominator for all measures (short-stay, long-stay, and claims-based) to 20 summed across four quarters.
- Revising the imputation methodology for QMs with low denominators meeting specific criteria. A facility's own available data will be used and the state average will be used to reach the minimum denominator.
- Using national cut points for assigning points for the ADL QM rather than state- specific thresholds.
The Association recommends member centers review the guide for more details.
In addition, the agency is making changes to
the CASPER provider preview report. The revised report will incorporate the new
measures, display updated star ratings, and include a new column that shows the
points assigned to each QM for a better understanding of the quality rating.
All skilled nursing care centers will have access to their preview
reports through the QIES System by the end of next week. The MDS coordinator at
your center will know how to access the report.
On Thursday, July 28 at 3 PM ET, AHCA will host
a members-only webinar to walk through these changes and answer
questions. Please register here.
In the meantime, members should continue to take steps to
prepare for these upcoming changes. Resources, including the updated Technical
User's Guide and instructions on how to access the QIES system, are available
on the members-only Five-Star ahcancalED website here. The
AHCA Quality Initiative website here,
along with blog posts here and here,
provide additional tips and resources.
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