CMS: Accrediting orgs can keep survey reports private
Hospital Safety Insider, August 10, 2017
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Hospital Safety Insider!
Proposal that would have forced publication of detailed reports dropped due to clause in federal law
A proposal by CMS to require accrediting organizations (AO) to post the details of their survey reports online was withdrawn last week by the agency, not because of negative comments—although there were plenty—but because, well, it might be prohibited under federal law.
The proposal first came in April, tucked into the latter pages of the always-long proposed changes to the CMS Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) for the upcoming fiscal year.
The idea was to make AOs post final survey reports online within 90 days of the information being made available to the relevant hospital (or other health care organization). The public versions would include details of all initial and recertification surveys at that provider for the preceding three years, plus accepted plans of correction. Currently, an AO discloses only whether or not an organization is accredited; detailed findings are not made public.
The proposal had aimed to promote transparency in healthcare, CMS argued, noting that it posts its own survey reports online. But critics contended the CMS reports are made available in a hard-to-read spreadsheet and that the federal agency was responsible for far fewer surveys at healthcare organizations, oftentimes only after a complaint. In the end, though, it was a fresh reading of the law, not this criticism, that halted the proposal.
In its IPPS final rule, published August 2, CMS noted that it would not proceed with its proposed changes to the federal regulations governing application and re-application procedures for national AOs—which means CMS backed away from its proposed requirement that AOs post their detailed reports publicly.
“Section 1865(b) of the Act prohibits CMS from disclosing survey reports or compelling the AOs to disclose their reports themselves,” the final rule states. “The suggestion by CMS to have the AOs post their survey reports may appear as if CMS was attempting to circumvent the provision of section 1865(b) of the Act. Therefore, this provision is effectively being withdrawn.”
In public comments to CMS concerning the proposal, The Joint Commission (TJC) said that requiring survey details be made public would have a “chilling effect” on efforts to raise standards of quality.
“There will be a race to the bottom on quality as health care organizations seek out oversight bodies that will report on the least number of standards comparable to the Medicare requirements,” Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, TJC’s president and CEO, wrote. “This may also lead to a growth in non-accredited facilities that will then be surveyed at taxpayer expense and with fewer oversight visits.”
Other groups similarly weighed in against the proposal.
A version of this article originally appeared in Inside the Joint Commission.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Hospital Safety Insider!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Math can be tricky: TJC corrects ABHR storage requirement
- Air control equals infection control
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Residency coordinators’ responsibilities
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Study: Shorter shifts reduces residents’ attentional failures
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- RPA Subscriber Exclusive: February issue of Residency Program Alert now available
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- OSHA HazCom updates include labeling, SDS requirements
- E-mailed
-
- Air control equals infection control
- OSHA HazCom updates include labeling, SDS requirements
- Tip: Note new thyroid imaging codes
- Tim Porter-O'Grady sounds off
- Skills of effective case managers
- Q: Can you clarify the reporting of dates on the plan of care for diagnosis onset and exacerbation?
- Q&A: Defining Subacute
- Q&A: Are colleges sending students to our facility for rotations business associates?
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Fracture coding in ICD-10-CM requires greater specificity
- Searched