Question

How would you change CMS quality based reporting for the better?

Answer 1

CMS manages quality programs that address many different areas of health care. These programs encourage improvement of quality through payment incentives, payment reductions, and quality improvement activities.CMS implements quality initiatives to assure quality health care for Medicare Beneficiaries through accountability and public disclosure. CMS uses quality measures in its various quality initiatives that include quality improvement, pay for reporting, and public reporting.Under the current approach, health systems that work with CMS and communicate their quality-reporting challenges and goals have an opportunity to help move themselves and the healthcare industry more effectively towards value-based care.The changes that should be made in CMS quality reporting according to me are-

• Quality measures don’t need to make healthcare organizations feel powerless. By using data and analytics to find efficiencies in how they structure quality measures strategies and aligning strategic goals, health systems can improve experiences for their patients and clinicians while delivering higher quality, more cost-effective care.
• Public reporting programs collect data on providers’ performance for various types of quality measures and then report that information so that it is made broadly available to the public. Such programs are designed to serve two key functions: giving patients information to help them make informed choices about where to receive their care, and allowing providers to identify areas for improvement and motivating them to improve.