CMS Hospital Data Collection & Reporting Initiative

AFMC is working with hospitals across the state to collect data on the four national clinical topics: Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Heart Failure (HF), Pneumonia (PNE) and Surgical Infection Prevention (SIP).

QualityNet Exchange

QualityNet (http://www.qualitynet.org) is a Web site that enables hospitals to submit quality measures data to the QIO Clinical Warehouse. It is the only approved method for the electronic transmission of privacy (protected) data (i.e., CART or JCAHO data, or data via another vendor) between the QIO and health care providers. QualityNet allows you to benchmark QI data with nationwide hospitals. Each hospital must register to use QNet (see Project Information, the QualityNet link.)

Annual Payment Update (APU)

(e.g. Market Basket Update, MBU, Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update - RHQDAPU)
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA)

CMS announced guidelines hospitals should use in submitting quality performance data to comply with Section 501 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA). Hospitals that do not participate will receive a reduction of 2 percent in their Medicare Annual Payment Update for fiscal year 2007.

In order to qualify for the full monetary update, hospitals must sign up with QNet Exchange, complete the Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update Notice of Participation Form, transmit all 10 quality measures through the QIO Clinical Warehouse and submit data for all payers (not just Medicare). (See Project Information, the APU link.)

Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA)

The HQA is a joint effort led by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to: 1) provide useful and valid information about hospital quality to the public; 2) provide hospitals a sense of predictability about public reporting expectations; 3) begin to standardize data and data collection mechanisms; and 4) to foster hospital quality improvement (see Project Information, the Hospital Quality Alliance link).

CMS Abstraction and Reporting Tool (CART)

We provide you with an easy-to-use data abstraction tool created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The CMS Abstraction and Reporting Tool (CART) is a powerful application for the collection and analysis of quality improvement data. Through data collection, analyses and real-time reporting, CART enables hospitals to comprehensively evaluate and manage quality improvement efforts. Most hospitals that do not transmit data through a vendor to JCAHO are encouraged to use CART to facilitate transmittal of data into the QIO Clinical Warehouse (see Project Information, the CART link)