CMS Proposed Rule Modernizes Discharge Planning Requirements
By - Patient preferences require more adequate attention and addressing, says the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, critical access hospitals, home health agencies, and others are still meeting notably outdated and antiquated requirements that require updating, says CMS in a press release.
According to a proposed rule from CMS, revisions will be made to those discharge planning requirements hospitals have been expected to meet in order to ensure seamless Medicare and Medicaid program participation.
“Although the current hospital discharge planning process meets the needs of many inpatients released from the acute care setting, some discharges result in less-than-optimal outcomes for patients including complications and adverse events that lead to hospital readmissions,” the proposed law states.
“Reducing avoidable hospital readmissions and patient complications presents an opportunity for improving the quality and safety of patient care while lowering health care costs,” adds the proposed law.
Less informed patients are resultantly less capable of effectively implementing an appropriate post-discharge treatment plan, the law additionally explains. Such increases the chance of complications and that of hospitalization readmission likelihood.
“CMS is proposing a simple but key change that will make it easier for people to take charge of their own health care. If this policy is adopted, individuals will be asked what’s most important to them as they choose the next step in their care – whether it is a nursing home or home care,” says Andy Slavitt, CMS Acting Administrator. “Policies like this put real meaning behind the words 'consumer-centered health care,'” Slavitt adds.
CMS's trifold approach aims for modernizations to improve care quality
Says CMS, its proposed amendments aim to modernize such requirements in three ways: “bringing them into closer alignment with current practice; helping to improve patient quality of care and outcomes; and reducing avoidable complications, adverse events, and readmissions.”
Under CMS’s proposed rule, CMS-3317-P, requirements are intended to be directly associated with the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act). The act of meeting such requirements will hopefully enhance consumer transparency and beneficiary experience throughout the discharge planning process, CMS says.
The IMPACT Act, which requires providers’ use of quality and resource data to assess patient goals and treatment preferences, has received both praise and opposition from the American Hospital Association (AHA), as EHRIntelligence.com reported.
As RevCycleIntelligence.com reported, reform measures regarding the IMPACT Act were recently underway in an attempt to align the cap accounting year for both the inpatient cap and the hospice aggregate cap.
Patient participation, caregivers as active partners key, says CMS
Another key facet of CMS’s proposed rule involves the concept of increased patient participation within the overall discharge planning process. A focus on patients’ meaningful involvement and the maintenance of strong caregiver and patient relations is imperative to enhance communication and improve the overall patient experience, says CMS.
“The proposed rule emphasizes the importance of the patient’s goals and preferences during the discharge planning process. These improvements should better prepare patients and their caregivers to be active partners for their anticipated health and community support needs upon discharge from the hospital or post-acute care setting,” CMS states.
“Hospitals and critical access hospitals would be required to consider several factors when evaluating a patient’s discharge needs, including but not limited to the availability of non-health care services and community-based providers that may be available to patients post-discharge,” adds CMS.
The sharing of quality and resource-based data between hospitals, critical access hospitals and home health agencies may resultantly allow both patients and caregivers to be more informed when selecting a high-quality post-acute care provider, CMS states.
“This rule puts the patient and their caregivers at the center of care delivery,” states CMS Deputy Administrator and Chief Medical Officer, Patrick Conway, MD, MSc.
“Patients will receive discharge instructions, based on their goals and preferences, that clearly communicate what medications and other follow-up is needed after discharge, and pertinent medical information will be communicated to providers who care for the patient after discharge," says Conway. "This leads to better care, smarter spending, and healthier people."
