Value-Based Purchasing Program Could Sock Safety Net Facilities: Study

The CMS' fast-approaching value-based purchasing program could spell trouble for financially strapped safety net hospitals, whose patient-experience scores tend to lag behind those of other hospitals, according to a study published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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Source: ModernHealthcare.com

The program, set to begin Oct. 1, will link a portion of hospitals' payment update to performance on a set of 12 clinical quality measures and a composite measure of patient experience. But according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, hospitals that care for large percentages of poor patients typically score worse than other hospitals on patient-reported metrics of experience, such as communication with physicians and discharge instructions.