The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published a new report detailing the progress of health care providers in meeting Medicare quality standards and improving their performance under those standards.
The report, required every three years, focuses on 17 key indicators of quality in the delivery of health care as defined by 247 individual quality measures.
The analysis found that:
- 670,000 patients improved their control of their blood pressure
- 510,000 fewer patients have poor control of their diabetes
- 12,000 fewer people died following hospitalization for a heart attack
- there were 70,000 fewer unplanned hospital readmissions
- nursing home residents suffered 840,000 fewer pressure ulcers
In addition, the study reported cost savings associated with better compliance with quality standards, including:
- $4.2 billion to $26.9 billion saved because of better compliance with medication instructions
- $2.8 billion to $20 billion saved through fewer treatments for pressure ulcers
- $6.5 billion to $10.4 billion saved because patients manage their diabetes more effectively
The study also looks hospital and nursing home performance variations based on race and ethnicity, income, sex, urbanicity, region, and age for many quality measures.
Learn more about Medicare’s quality measures and how hospitals and nursing homes are performing under these measures in the new CMS report 2018 National Impact: Assessment of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): Quality Measures Report, which can be found here.