CMS Launching Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Compare and Long-Term Care Hospital Compare Websites

December 14, 2016

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has unveiled new Compare websites for both Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) and Long-Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs). 

Under the Affordable Care Act, both IRFs and LTCHs are required to report quality data to CMS on a number of quality measures and health outcomes. These new tools take this data and put it into a format that can be used more readily by the public to get a snapshot of the quality of care each hospital provides. For instance, these tools will help families compare some key quality metrics, such as pressure ulcers and readmissions, for over 1,100 IRFs and 420 LTCHs across the nation.

Your Academy supplied comments to CMS on both measures that IRF and LTCH Compare will be utilizing. While IRF and LTCH Compare will show facility level data, Physician Compare will use MIPS data at the provider level to help patients choose Medicare physicians.

The following quality measures will be reported on the new Compare sites for IRFs and LTCHs, respectively:

IRFs

• Percent of Residents or Patients with Pressure Ulcers that are New or Worsened (Short Stay) (National Quality Forum #0678)
• All-Cause Unplanned Readmission Measure for 30 Days Post-Discharge From Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (National Quality Forum #2502)

LTCHs

• Percent of Residents or Patients with Pressure Ulcers That Are New or Worsened (Short Stay) (National Quality Forum #0678)
• All-Cause Unplanned Readmission Measure for 30 Days Post-Discharge from Long-Term Care Hospital (National Quality Forum #2512)

IRF Compare: https://www.medicare.gov/inpatientrehabilitationfacilitycompare/ 

LTCH Compare: https://www.medicare.gov/longtermcarehospitalcompare/ 

For more information:

• IRF Quality Public Reporting 
• LTCH Quality Public Reporting