Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Release Of Hospital Quality Ratings Delayed By Medicare Amid Lawmaker, Lobbying Pressure
Kaiser Health News: Medicare Delays Plans For New Star Ratings On Hospitals After Congressional Pressure
Bowing to pressure from the hospital industry and Congress, the Obama administration on Wednesday delayed releasing its new hospital quality rating measure just a day before its planned launch. The new “overall hospital quality” star rating aimed to combine the government’s disparate efforts to measure hospital care into one easy-to-grasp metric. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services now publishes more than 100 measures of aspects of hospital care, but many of these measures are technical and confusing since hospitals often do well on some and poorly on others. The new star rating boils 62 of the measures down into a unified rating of one to five stars, with five being the best. (Rau, 4/20)
The Wall Street Journal: U.S. to Delay Release of New Hospital Ratings
“CMS is committed to quality improvement and transparency for people with Medicare,” the agency said in a notice to lawmakers Wednesday. Medicare, the federal insurance program for older Americans, is one of the biggest payers for health care in the U.S. and has long been seen by different presidential administrations as a way to influence the entire health system. CMS said it was releasing the new timeline “in response to hospital and other stakeholder feedback.” (Radnofsky and Armour, 4/20)
Modern Healthcare: CMS Delays New Hospital Quality Ratings Amid Pressure From Congress, Industry
The CMS postponed the release of new overall quality star ratings for U.S. hospitals one day before their scheduled reveal, bowing to pressure from lawmakers and industry stakeholders. (Rice, 4/20)
