AHA responds to quality reporting proposals in inpatient psychiatric rule

The AHA today expressed concern that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services continues to propose measures for the Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting Program that are not central to treating the psychiatric disorder for which patients have been admitted. “We urge CMS to work with IPF stakeholders to identify evidence-based measures that more appropriately assess the type of care that patients predominantly need and receive in these settings,” wrote AHA Executive Vice President Rick Pollack, commenting on quality reporting provisions in the proposed fiscal year 2016 IPF prospective payment system rule. “Further, we continue to be concerned that several of the proposed measures lack National Quality Forum endorsement or have not been endorsed for, or tested in, psychiatric settings.” While AHA supports some of the quality proposals, it expressed concern with the proposed measures for tobacco use treatment, brief intervention for alcohol use, and screening for metabolic disorders. The letter also reiterates stakeholder concerns with a proposal to replace two transition of care measures with new measures that have not been tested in the psychiatric setting, and urges that any proposed readmissions measures be adjusted for sociodemographic factors.