Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, Heart Disease, JAMA, Medicare / 24.02.2020
Hospitals That Received Awards for Quality Care More Likely to Be Penalized by CMS
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Rishi K. Wadhera, MD
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In recent years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has implemented nationally mandated value-based programs to incentivize hospitals to deliver higher quality care. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), for example, has financially penalized hospitals over $2.5 billion to date for high 30-day readmission rates.
In addition, the Value-Based Purchasing Program (VBP) rewards or penalizes hospitals based on their performance on multiple domains of care. Both programs have focused on cardiovascular care. The evidence to date, however, suggests that these programs have not improved health outcomes, and there is growing concern that they may disproportionately penalize hospitals that care for sick and poor patients, rather than for poor quality care.
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