The safety measure at stake is “Death Among Surgical Inpatients with Serious Treatable Complications,” also known as Patient Safety Indicator 4, or PSI-4.
Here are five reasons CMS should maintain the safety measure, as outlined by Leapfrog in a June 28 statement:
- PSI-4 is a powerful and important safety measure, and patient safety is one of the most significant death risks Medicare beneficiaries and the public will ever encounter.
- Leapfrog uses PSI-4 in its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade and it’s one of the highest priority measures for purchasers and consumers.
- Deaths counted in PSI-4 can be prevented by hospitals; deaths from all causes are not always the fault of the hospital.
- PSI-4 is a surgical measure. There are very few measures that are focused on surgical safety or surgical outcomes in general.
- Improvements to PSI-4 can occur while the current measure continues to be included in the [inpatient quality reporting] and is publicly reported.
More than 75 organizations and individuals signed Leapfrog’s letter to CMS regarding the proposed removal of PSI-4.
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