Good evening Academic Hospitalist Interest Group Members:
CMS is seeking stakeholder comment regarding Development of Inpatient Outcome Measures for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). I am writing to ask you to review the call for comments below and send me responses so that I can collate comments for a statement on behalf of SGIM. This is a chance to have meaningful input on policy that affects us all. The deadline for submission of comments is 11:59 PM EST on January 4, 2019. Therefore, please respond to me by December 31, 2018.
Thank you in advance for your thoughtful comments,
Matthew Tuck
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From: CMS MIPS Outcome Measures <cmsinpatientmipsmeasures@yale.edu> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2018 12:14 PM Subject: Call for Public Comment (Due January 4, 2019): Development of Inpatient Outcome Measures for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System
Dear Sir or Madam:
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is adapting two claims-based hospital measures to assess the quality of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries by clinicians or clinician groups that are eligible to participate under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). We are inviting your comments on the proposed measures.
Yale New Haven Health Services Corporation/Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) is leading the work under contract to CMS. The two measures CORE is re-specifying are the:
- Hospital-Wide All-Cause Unplanned Readmission Measure (hereafter "HWR measure").
- Risk-Standardized Complication Rate Following Elective Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty and/or Total Knee Arthroplasty (hereafter "THA/TKA complication measure").
The re-specified measures will assess each eligible clinician or clinician group's readmission or complication rate, respectively, relative to that of other MIPS participating clinicians or clinician groups with similar patients.
CMS is now inviting stakeholders and other interested members of the public to review and to comment on the re-specified measures. This email serves as the call for public comment on the measures. The purpose of the public comment period is to gain input from the widest possible array of interested parties. Public comment can elicit critical suggestions not previously considered by the contractor or its national Technical Expert Panel (TEP).
The specifications and preliminary results of the two measures are outlined in the measures' methodology reports, which present the approach to measure development, the measure specifications, and results of measure evaluation and testing. The two reports are independent documents which can be reviewed alone or in either order. They are:
- For the HWR measure: "Measure Methodology Report for Public Comment: Clinician and Clinician Group Hospital-wide All-cause Unplanned Readmission Measure," which presents the approach to measure development, measure specifications, and results of measure testing.
- For the THA/TKA complication measure: "Measure Methodology Report for Public Comment: Clinician and Clinician Group Risk-Standardized Complication Rate Following Elective Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty and/or Total Knee Arthroplasty," which presents the approach to measure development, measure specifications, and results of measure testing.
Please email your comments to CMSinpatientMIPSmeasures@yale.edu. Comments on the measures must be received by 11:59 PM EST on January 4, 2019. If you are providing comments on behalf of an organization, include the organization's name and your contact information. If you are commenting as an individual, submit identifying or contact information. Any attachments should be in Microsoft Word, Excel, or PDF format. Do not include personal health information in your comments. For more information and to access the above measures' documents, please visit https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/MMS/PC-Currently-Accepting-Comments.html. Please note that at the end of the public comment period, all comments will be posted on the website.
CORE will also host listening sessions on the re-specified measures via webinar during the call for public comment. The listening sessions are an opportunity for stakeholders to learn about and provide feedback on the re-specified measures. The target audience for the listening sessions includes clinicians who provide care to Medicare beneficiaries, especially those included in one or the other measure, as well as organizations representing these clinicians and other interested stakeholders.
- For the HWR measure: CORE will host the listening session on December 13, 2018 from 6:00 to 7:00 PM EST. Click below to register and receive webinar information. (https://www.yourconferencecenter.com/confcenter/PinCode/Pin_Code.aspx?100449&o=UaTTBgyZIjHJJo)
- For the THA/TKA complication measure: CORE will host the listening session on December 11, 2018 from 6:00 to 7:00 PM EST. Click below to register and receive webinar information. (https://www.yourconferencecenter.com/confcenter/PinCode/Pin_Code.aspx?100449&o=UedsULkkQOTgUB)
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Milda Saunders
Assistant Professor
University of Chicago Medicine
Chicago IL
(773) 702-5941
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