Regulatory and Accreditation Updates
CMS
Report finds low growth rate, high rate of spending in health care
Nominal health spending in the United States grew 4.4 percent in 2008, to $2.3 trillion or $7,681 per person, according to findings in a report by CMS’ Office of the Actuary, released Jan. 5 in the health policy journal Health Affairs. Despite slower growth, health care spending continued to outpace overall nominal economic growth, which grew by 2.6 percent in 2008 as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“This report contains some welcome news and yet another warning sign,” said Jonathan Blum, director of CMS’ Center for Medicare Management, in a Jan. 5 press release. “Health care spending as a percentage of GDP is rising at an unsustainable rate. It is clear that we need health insurance reform now.” Read the full news release.
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THE JOINT COMMISSION
Annual report shows gains in patient care, quality and safety
Over a seven-year period accredited hospitals in America have steadily improved the quality of patient care according to The Joint Commission’s latest annual report, Improving America’s Hospitals: The Joint Commission’s Report on Quality and Safety 2009. The fourth annual report presents scientific evidence of improvement and how it relates to common medical conditions and procedures, including care of patients with heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical conditions. Report findings show that since their inception as core measures in 2002, pneumococcal vaccination and smoking cessation advice measures have demonstrated the greatest rates of improvement.
“In addition to saving lives and improving health, improved quality reduces health care costs by eliminating preventable complications,” says Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH, president, The Joint Commission. “Quality improvement is an important aspect of the ongoing reform effort to make health care accessible to more Americans and ‘bend the curve’ on increasing costs. By eliminating the preventable complications that today drive up the cost of care, we would easily save the many billions of dollars lawmakers are struggling so hard to locate.”
The magnitude of national improvement on these measures ranged from 4.9 percent to 58.8 percent. Hospital performance also improved on 13 other measures. Read the full report here.
QUALITY
ASC Quality Collaboration releases quality report
A 2009 third quarter public report of ambulatory surgical center (ASC) quality data has been released by the ASC Quality Collaboration. The report was made possible through the voluntary efforts of participants in the ASC Quality Collaboration collecting and submitting clinical quality data reflecting patient admissions from July 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2009.
This report presents aggregated performance data for six ASC facility-level quality measures developed by the ASC Quality Collaboration and endorsed by the National Quality Forum:
- Patient Fall in the ASC
- Patient Burn
- Hospital Transfer/Admission
- Wrong Site, Side, Patient, Procedure, Implant
- Prophylactic IV Antibiotic Timing
- Appropriate Surgical Site Hair Removal
Read the full report here.
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