When it come to the Affordable Care Act and reimbursements, we need to understand the programs and what they mean for our facilities:
What is Hospital Value-Based Purchasing?
The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program is a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative that rewards acute-care hospitals with incentive payments for the quality of care they provide to people using Medicare.
What is Medicare doing to improve the quality of care in hospitals?
Through the Hospital VBP, CMS is changing the way it pays hospitals, rewarding hospitals for the quality of care they provide to Medicare patients, not just the quantity of procedures they perform. Hospitals are rewarded based on how closely they follow the best clinical practices and how well hospitals enhance patients’ experiences of care. When hospitals follow proven best practices, patients receive higher quality care and see better outcomes. Hospital VBP is just one initiative CMS is undertaking to improve the quality of care Medicare beneficiaries receive.
The Hospital VBP Program was established by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). The law requires an establishment of a value-based purchasing program for inpatient hospitals, which allows Medicare to pay hospitals for reporting on quality measures rather than quantity.
