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.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The highest performing hospital will receive a net increase in payments of slightly more than 3 percent in fiscal year 2018.
4. The worst performing hospital will incur a net decrease in payments of 1.65 percent.
5. 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.
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