Timing

Multiple activities are being conducted, often simultaneously, to reach the goal of implementing an expanded, robust set of quality measures for hospital public reporting.

• CMS started reporting the starter set of 10 quality measures on the CMS Web site in October 2003. The measures are reported only for hospitals that volunteer to participate in the national voluntary reporting effort, the Connecticut special partnership, and the CMS Hospital 3-State Pilot.

• Hospitals participating in the Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration began reporting an expanded set of 34 measures on the CMS Web site in March 2004, starting with historical quality data. This report includes a full year of historical data. The first year results were reported in spring 2005, recognizing those hospitals with the highest performance on certain measures of quality and noting those hospitals that received bonus awards.

• CMS is testing the best ways to share hospital quality information with consumers and launched Hospital Compare on the Medicare Web site in early 2005. Hospital Compare contains hospital quality information for consumers including the starter set of 10 hospital quality measures. Results of the Hospital Patient Perspectives on Care Survey (HCAHPS) are added once the survey data are available.