Rural Policy Research Institute Health Panel Response to CMS\u27 Report to Congress: Plan to Implement a Medicare Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program

Comprehensive quality improvement programs are an important advance in US health care policy. Patients deserve to be safe in our nation’s hospitals and should demand that their health care providers place quality care above all other priorities. Quality improvement should be of critical strategic importance to hospitals. Yet, hospital-based quality improvement efforts may be costly and can negatively impact hospital profitability. This financial reality is unacceptable in a health care system that strives to be safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. Therefore, the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI) Health Panel (Panel) strongly supports the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) exploration of payment alternatives designed to improve the quality of hospital care—including value-based purchasing (VBP)