The FY19 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule – the voluminous document that details the contract between hospitals and the Medicare system – was released last week. Aside from containing the annual rate update, the proposed rule would significantly reduce the number of quality measures hospitals have to report.
CMS said it was eliminating some reporting altogether and would remove duplicative measures across five hospital quality and value-based purchasing programs. “This would result in the removal of a total of 19 measures from the programs and would de-duplicate another 21 measures while still maintaining meaningful measures of hospital quality and patient safety,” CMS wrote in a release, adding that other changes will reduce the number of hours providers spend on paperwork.