Important Updates
Deadline Extended to August 31 -
Pain Assessment and Follow-Up Reporting Measure
In the Final Rule for the Calendar Year (CY) 2016 End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) required that facilities report Pain Assessment and Follow-Up Reporting Measure data for the first six months of the CY 2016 performance period before August 1, 2016. This data is instrumental in implementing the reporting measure for the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP) starting in Payment Year (PY) 2018.
 
Earlier this summer, CMS implemented a new two-part identity management system for the ESRD Quality Reporting System (EQRS). To accommodate the transition from the QualityNet Identify Management System (QIMS) to the new QualityNet Account and Role Management (QARM) application, CMS wants to ensure that users have sufficient time to access and report data for this reporting measure in CROWNWeb. As a result, CMS is informing the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network Organizations (Networks) that it has extended the deadline for facilities to submit Pain Assessment and Follow-Up Reporting Measure data in CROWNWeb from July 31, 2016 to August 31, 2016.



May Clinical Data Submission Deadline Extension
To accommodate the July 19 transition from the QualityNet Identify Management System (QIMS) to the new QualityNet Account and Role Management (QARM) application, the deadline to submit May clinical data to CROWNWeb has been extended from July 31, 2016 to August 31, 2016.
 

Clinical Month

Original Submission Deadline

Revised Submission Deadline

May 2016

July 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm ET

August 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm ET



June Clinical Data Submission:

 

The deadline to submit clinical date for June 2016 remains August 31, 2016. There have no indications from CMS that there will be changes to this deadline.

 

Clinical Month

Submission Deadline

June 2016

August 31, 2016 at 11:59 pm ET

Registration Now Open - 2016 ESRD New England Fall Meeting




Participant registration is now open. Click here.

For more information, visit the Network website.
 
Quality Improvement
Measures Management Up Close
Quality measures help drive improvement in performance and quality of care. Evaluating quality measures looks at whether the measures are working well and are providing meaningful information about care. As part of the evaluation process, conducting reviews of implemented measures helps determine whether: 1) there has been a change in scientific evidence, 2) collecting the data has imposed a burden, and 3) the data collected tells a story about the care. Evaluation answers the question, is the measure still adding value?
Measure use and maintenance includes collecting data, responding to questions about the measures, scanning the environment for new information on the measure, reporting on results, monitoring those results, and evaluating measure and results data as needed. All of this is used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to inform decisions about priorities and if a measure should continue to be used.
There are three types of maintenance reviews: measure updates, comprehensive reevaluations and ad hoc reviews. The data and reports that result from measure use, evaluation and maintenance provide essential input for CMS to determine whether a measure should be retired, retained, revised, suspended or removed.
For detailed information on measure use, continuing evaluation and maintenance, see Section 2, Chapter 5 of the latest version of the MMS Blueprint.
Do-It-Yourself Dialysis
A nephrologist in rural Texas heard about an innovative model of care in Sweden at the IHI National Forum. Five years later, his patients are doing their own dialysis - with half the rate of hospitalizations.


"In 2015, the first year of the program, the difference in outcomes for patients on traditional dialysis and empowered dialysis was staggering.
 
Of the 560 patients we had on traditional dialysis, there were 1,099 hospitalizations and 90 deaths. Of the 191 patients on empowered dialysis, there were only 125 hospitalizations and five deaths. Traditional dialysis patients were hospitalized at a rate of 1.9 hospitalizations per patient compared to 0.7 for the empowered group - more than twice as often."


Click here to read Richard Gibney's full blog post on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's website and learn more about Do-It-Yourself Dialysis.


 
Patient Services
14 Diseases You Almost Forgot About Thanks to Vaccines
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a list of 14 vaccine-preventable diseases that you can protect your family from. Click here for more information.


1. Polio
2. Tetanus
3. The Flu (Influenza)
4. Hepatitis B
5. Hepatitis A
6. Rubella

7. Hib
(Haemophilus influenza type b)
8. Measles
9. Whooping Cough (Pertussis)

10. Pneumococcal
Disease
11. Rotavirus
12. Mumps
13. Chicken Pox
14. Diphtheria


ESRD News and Alerts
FDA MedWatch:
  • August 11, 2016 - PharmaTech, LLC of Davie, FL, is voluntarily recalling all liquid products from October 20, 2015 through July 15, 2016 as a precautionary measure due to a potential risk of product contamination with Burkholderia cepacia. For more information, click here. 


Save the Dates - The Experience of Care: Patients and Providers as Partners
The National Forum of ESRD Networks is hosting a 3-Part webinar series focusing on improving patient experience of care and addressing important topics such as: how to change the way we look at patient experience of care, how to use new information to improve the patient experience of care, and breaking down barriers to communication.
 
September 14, 2016 - 2:00 pm ET
The Patient Perspective: What is the experience of care? Are we asking the right questions?
 
October 19, 2016 - 2:00 pm ET
The Provider Perspective: What do we learn from experience of care surveys? Can we do better?
 
November 9, 2016 - 2:00 pm ET
Patient and Provider Engagement: Forging true partnerships and changing the culture.
 
Registration and more information available on the Forum's website.
 
Data Management
ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP) Payment Year 2017 Preview Period
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is informing the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Network Organizations (Networks) that the Payment Year (PY) 2017 Preview Period for the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP) began on August 15, 2016, and will conclude at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 16, 2016. The Preview Period provides an important opportunity for each facility to review and pose questions about its ESRD QIP scores and any potential payment reductions that may result.


For those who missed the August 2, 2016 Medicare Learning Network Call, the resources presented as well as the recording are available here.
 
Find out how to access and review your Preliminary Payment Year (PY) Performance Score Reports (PSRs), as well as how to submit a formal inquiry by the September 16 deadline.
Have You Used the Network Data Knowledge Base and Customer Portal?

With the increase in data that must be submitted, as well as systems through which the data is collected, there are multiple ways in which you can reach the Network Data Support Team for help. 

During the month of July the Network resolved 84 tickets using the Customer Portal.

 

Type of Assistance 

Number of Tickets

 Time Spent (Hours)

2728/2746 Forms

14

3.9

Dialysis Date

7

3

EIDM/QARM Registration

32

7.75

CROWNWeb Clinical

11

3

CROWNWeb Issues

20

8.65

Total

84

26.3



 

*Please remember that you should NEVER include any patient-specific information such as Name, Date of Birth, Social Security Number, Medicare Claim Number, etc. The only patient identifier that can safely be communicated is the Unique Patient Identifier (UPI) from CROWNWeb.*
 
Upcoming Meeting & Events
Thursday, September 22, 2016 - Hartford Hospital Transplant Program 11 Annual Interdisciplinary Transplant Symposium, Sheraton Hartford South Hotel, 100 Capital Boulevard, Rocky Hill, CT.


September 23-25, 2016 - American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) 2016 National Patient Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
 
Wednesday, October 5, 2016 - NKF Fall 2016 CRNNE Conference, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA.
 
Thursday, October 27, 2016 - 4th Annual ESRD New England Fall Meeting at the Mohegan Sun Conference Center, Uncasville, CT.


IPRO End-Stage Renal Disease Network of New England, the ESRD Organization for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, prepared this material under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The contents presented do not necessarily reflect CMS policy. CMS Contract Number: HHSM-500-2016-00019C.


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