Promoting and Rewarding High-Quality Care
Accountability in care stems from measuring care quality accurately and appropriately in ways that aim to improve outcomes. As such, quality metrics need to be meaningful to patients – measures that actually matter. To promote this fundamental principle, we established the Kidney Care Quality Alliance to include representatives from all members of the kidney care community in the process of quality measure development.
Our members also actively participate with the National Quality Forum. We believe it is crucial that quality measures accurately represent the quality being provided and continue to express our strong belief that measures that the NQF has rejected as not meeting the scientific criteria for measure development.
To further increase the quality of care that is covered by public and private payors, KCP supports efforts to improve patient outcomes and reduce Medicare spending by incentivizing coordinated care. Working together, dialysis facilities, nephrologists, and other health care professionals could significantly reduce the leading causes of hospitalizations, such as fluid overload and dialysis bloodstream access-related infections. These efforts need to be designed appropriately and supported by sufficient resources.
KCP is committed to maintaining the value-based purchasing system within the Medicare ESRD program, now known as the Quality Incentive Program (QIP). KCP continues to work with CMS to ensure that this system, which includes quality-related payment reductions, improves over time to ensure an accurate assessment of the care provided to beneficiaries receiving life-sustaining dialysis treatments. We also support streamlining and aligning the Five Star program with the QIP to eliminate contradictions and inconsistencies that make it difficult for individuals seeking performance information from being able to obtain meaningful information.
KCP Comment Letters & Resources:
- KCP CDC Letter on Fielding the NHSN BSI Measure for ESRD Facilities (April 17, 2023)
- Comments on the CY 2023 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (August 25, 2022)
- Comments on the CY 2022 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (August 26, 2021)
- Comments on the “Medicare Program; Modernizing and Clarifying the Physician Self-Referral Regulations” Proposed Rule (December 20, 2019)
- Letter on the End Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System Technical Expert Panel (December 20, 2019)
- Comments on Changes to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) in the Proposed Pule for the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Proposed Rule (September 27, 2019)
- Comments on the provisions of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule that pertain to the Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and the Transplant Centers (September 27, 2019)
