Ayla Ellison | November 3, 2017
The Medicare Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program is intended to encourage hospitals to provide high-quality care more efficiently by adjusting payments to hospitals based on the quality of care they provide.
In fiscal year 2018, 1,597 hospitals will receive a positive payment adjustment under the program, while 1,211 will receive a payment reduction, according to data on nearly 3,000 U.S. hospitals released Friday by CMS.
Here are five things to know about the Value-Based Purchasing Program and the hospitals receiving bonuses and penalties in fiscal year 2018.
- The program adjusts Medicare payments to hospitals under CMS’ Inpatient Prospective Payment System. Base operating MS-DRG payments to eligible IPPS hospitals will be reduced by 2 percent in fiscal year 2018 to fund an estimated $1.9 billion in incentive payments for the Value-Based Purchasing Program.
- In fiscal year 2018, about half of the 3,000 hospitals subject to the VBP Program will see a change between -0.5 percent and 0.5 percent in their base operating MS-DRG payments.
- The highest performing hospital will receive a net increase in payments of slightly more than 3 percent in fiscal year 2018.
- The worst performing hospital will incur a net decrease in payments of 1.65 percent.
- Four domains were used to score hospitals for the fiscal year 2018 VBP Program: clinical care, safety, patient- and caregiver-centered experience of care, and efficiency and cost reduction. Each of the domains is weighted equally at 25 percent.
Source: Beckers