CMS Rule: A Monumental Step Forward for Patient Safety and Transparency (Part 2 of 6)

CMS Rule: A Monumental Step Forward for Patient Safety and Transparency (Part 2 of 6)
August 2nd, 2010 2:29 pm ET -


Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., PhD., FCCM
Guest Author - Peter J. Pronovost, M.D., PhD., FCCM
Professor, The Johns Hopkins University
Anesthesia & Critical Care Medicine, Health Policy & Management
Director, The Quality and Safety Research Group

On July 30, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took a bold step that will provide consumers with important information about their risks in hospitals. With the new CMS rule, we have, for the first time, a trifecta: robust interventions known to reduce infections, payment policies to reward hospitals for reporting and reducing infections, and transparent public reporting of infections using valid data.

Building upon decades of research, all hospitals now have the ability to nearly eliminate these infections, making CLABSI the polio campaign of the 21st century. We have an approach that works — using an intervention that includes a simple checklist of best practices; measuring and reporting infection rates to the clinical teams and administrators; and improving teamwork among doctors, nurses and hospital leaders, the Johns Hopkins Hospital virtually eliminated these infections. With support from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), this Hopkins program reduced CLABSI by 66% in 103 Michigan intensive care units. State Hospital Associations, CMS Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), and state health departments, with support from CDC, work with our national team and local providers to implement the program state-by-state. We get additional support from professional societies, consumer groups, and business coalitions. Working together, linked to a common measurable goal, we will reduce these infections.

Yet we recognize that we need to learn how to reduce the data collection burden on hospitals, to make reports more meaningful to consumers and clinicians, and to hold hospitals accountable when infections remain high. We can do this.

In 2008, the U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services aligned the country around a measurable goal and a common purpose: reducing CLABSI. It’s a bold yet attainable goal. Public reporting of CLABSI rates on the CMS Hospital Compare Website and required use of standardized CLABSI definitions will encourage needed innovation, and leverage the strengths of the multiple groups whose efforts we need needed to reduce infections.

Today, CMS puts us on a road likely to dramatically reduce infections, provide our patients with needed information, help to ensure patients are safer, and learn how to move forward to tackle the next types of preventable harms. We hope this is but the first step in similar future initiatives to make our hospitals safer.

More information about the CLABSI prevention project discussed: http://www.onthecuspstophai.org/Stop-7611.html. More CDC information available at http://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/cms-welcome.html and http://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/pubs.html.

http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/?p=653

http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/