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New Research Supports Medicare Pay for Performance
Economic incentives are effective in improving the quality of inpatient hospital care, according to preliminary
results based on a report by Premier, Inc. The findings are based on early returns from a groundbreaking demonstration
project on pay for performance involving more than 270 hospitals in 38 states.
As part of the project, which began in October of 2003, Medicare will reward high performers with bonuses totaling
$7 million per year for a total of $21 million. Poorly performing hospitals may face financial penalties. The project
tracks hospital-specific performance on a set of standardized and widely accepted quality indicators for five key
clinical areas, including heart attack (acute myocardial infarction), congestive heart failure, pneumonia, coronary
artery bypass graft, and hip and knee replacements.
- In May, Premier released results from the project's first four quarters showing a trend toward significantly improved
quality among all participants. The median performance composite score for all hospitals went up 7.5 percent in the
project's first year.
- Fifth quarter results released in the new report show even greater improvement in patient care quality, with the
median performance composite score increasing more than 10 percent across all 34 measures tracked. Several metrics,
such as aspirin prescription for open heart surgery patients, are reaching a compliance rate of nearly 100 percent.
- Performance scores on patient care indicators for heart failure have improved by 13.8 percentage points since the
demonstration began, while pneumonia has improved 12.5 percentage points. Hip and knee replacement has gained 7.9
percentage points. Followed by coronary artery bypass graft, which has improved 6.8 percentage points. Heart attack
measures have increased 3.6 percentage points.
Source: Premier Inc., July 27, 2005. ©2005 Healthcare Daily Data Byte by Healthcare Intelligence Network. As owner
of the copyright for the Healthcare Daily Data Byte entitled " New Research Supports Medicare Pay for Performance; Early
Returns from Groundbreaking Pilot Project Show Economic Incentives Can Drive Quality Improvement" HIN grants permission to
Bettinger, Stimler & Associates, LLC (BSA Healthcare) to print this and post it on the organization's web site.
BSA Healthcare Services
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