CMS Adds Patient Ratings To Dialysis Comparison Website
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Consumerism is sneaking into healthcare with addition of patient ratings and other data.
CMS has announced additions to its Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) website on Medicare.gov, which shares data on Medicare-certified dialysis facilities across the U.S, in response to patient and caregiver feedback on what information is important to them when choosing a dialysis facility. The updated comparison data is a reflection of the rising importance of consumerism in healthcare.
In a CMS blog post, Kate Goodrich, M.D., Director, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, wrote, “Since the initial release of the Dialysis Facility Compare website, patients have emphasized in their feedback to CMS that understanding how others like them view a dialysis center — in particular the cleanliness of the facility and how well the staff cares for them — is valuable information when choosing a facility. As a result, visitors to the updated Dialysis Facility Compare website will now be able to see how patients rate their experiences with dialysis facilities.”
The DFC website will now include data from CMS’ In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (ICH-CAHPS) Survey on how patients rate their experiences at facilities, including treatment from staff and facility cleanliness.
Dialysis Facility Compare is the official CMS resource regarding the quality of dialysis facilities, and it includes data on thousands of Medicare-certified dialysis centers nationwide. CMS added the star ratings to its Compare websites last year in order to improve the usefulness of quality information for consumers. The star ratings were originally included on the Dialysis Facility Compare website on January 22, 2015, and were previously updated in October 2015. Currently, there are star ratings on Dialysis Facility Compare, Nursing Home Compare, Physician Compare, Home Health Compare, and Hospital Compare.
Two new quality measures are also being added to DFC, including National Healthcare Safety Network Standardized Bloodstream Infection Ratio and The Pediatric Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) Kt/V. This will provide more information regarding important risk factors.
Additionally, the star rating system is also getting a makeover, including changes to the measure scoring methodology and the establishment of fa baseline year to develop scoring functions, domains, and star rating cut-offs to be used in future years.
The website changes are also in line with the newly announced policies and payment rates for the end-stage renal disease prospective payment system, announced October 28, as well. The final rule updates these policies and rates as of January 1, 2017, and finalizes new quality measures designed to improve the quality of care provided by dialysis facilities treating patients with ESRD.