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CMS pays $8.85 million to hospitals for quality improvements

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 12, 2005

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services paid $8.85 million to hospitals that made quality improvements as part of a pay-for-performance demonstration project. More than 260 hospitals participated in the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration. They improved by an average 6.6% on 33 quality indicators tracked by a Premier Inc. database, according to a statement released by the nonprofit firm.

The first year of the three-year pilot program saw improvements in five areas: patients with heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, coronary artery bypass graft, and hip and knee replacement. Hospitals in the top 10% for a given condition got a 2% bonus in Medicare payments for the condition, while hospitals in the second top 10% got a 1% bonus, CMS said in a statement. The biggest bonus, $326,000, will go to Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey for its performance on quality measures of care for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgical procedures.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/12/12/prbf1212.htm.

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