Congress is in recess. The House and the Senate will reconvene following the November 7 elections.

JCAHO

MS.1.20

JCAHO’s deadline for submitting comments on the latest revisions to Standard MS.1.20 has passed. NAMSS has submitted an official statement to JCAHO commenting on the revisions. The final draft can be found HERE.

Quality of Care

CMS has published a list of 86 quality measures that the agency expects to have available at the beginning of 2007 for its Physician Voluntary Reporting Program (PVRP). The measures used by this pilot program will be expanded to track quality care in as many specialties as possible. To read more about this program, please visit the Federal Agency News (link) section of this month’s report.

CMS announced that nearly all of the nation’s eligible hospitals reported data on the quality of care they deliver, providing transparency in information for consumers on quality performance measures linked to payments hospitals receive for treating Medicare beneficiaries. To read more about this announcement, please visit the Federal Agency News (link) section of this month’s report.

CMS and the Office of the Inspector General recently issued a final rule to create two new exceptions to the Stark Law and two new safe harbors to the Anti-Kickback Statute. The final rule would permit the donation of health information technology systems to increase quality of care, patient safety, and healthcare efficiency. To read more about the final rule, please visit the Federal Agency News (link) section of this month’s report.

Pay for Performance

CMS announced a new pay for performance demonstration project. The Medicare Care Management Performance (MCMP) Demonstration will take place in four pilot states in 2007 and will focus on providing quality care to seniors and disabled Medicare beneficiaries. To read more about this project, please visit the Federal Agency News (link) section of this month’s report.