Changes to DFC Measures for January 2015
In addition to introducing the Star Ratings CMS will stop publicly reporting two quality measures from the DFC website, the URR dialysis adequacy measure and the Hemoglobin greater than 12 g/dL. More than 99% of all patients achieve the thresholds set for these measures, so they do not provide meaningful information for consumers who wish to compare quality at different facilities. CMS will continue to provide data on the hemoglobin measure through our downloadable databases on data.medicare.gov as a means of monitoring future trends in facility performance.
CMS will be adding the Standardized Readmission Ratio (SRR) to the outcome quality measures. The SRR is a measure of care coordination, a domain of care critical to dialysis patients, who average almost two hospitalizations per year. The SRR will not be included in the Star Rating methodology at this time.
Next Steps
CMS is providing all Medicare-participating dialysis facilities a 15 day preview period to review their data and star rating before they are posted on Dialysis Facility Compare in January 2015. Facilities will have the opportunity to submit questions about their ratings if they believe their ratings are inaccurate. In addition to the star ratings, updated data on individual DFC measures will be posted simultaneously in January 2015 as part of the ongoing quarterly refresh schedule.
In the coming months, CMS will release a public call for nominations for participation in our annual DFC Star Rating Technical Expert Panel (TEP). The call for nominations will include detailed information about the composition of the panel and the process for nominating participants. The TEP will be charged with evaluating the star rating scoring methodology, considering the current star rating measures, and suggesting potential future measures for the star ratings. The TEP will then make recommendations to CMS for future modifications or iterations of the star ratings system as necessary.
