Pay-for-performance
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Beginning in 2012, hospitals could get an increased or decreased Medicare payment depending on how well they perform on certain standard quality measures in the treatment of heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care, under draft legislation being circulated by the Senate Finance Committee. Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released their value-based purchasing "discussion draft" Nov. 19 and are asking for public comments on the language by Dec. 15. The legislation is intended to build on the 2003-mandated Medicare policy to adjust hospital payments based simply on whether a facility simply reports certain quality measure outcomes