Starting December 19, AHCA LTC Trend Tracker users have access to a tool that shows what is determining their Five-Star Quality Measure ratings and how they can improve.
The tool reflects three major changes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced to the Five-Star rating in April and October 2019. The first was the addition of short- and long-stay quality component star ratings. The second was a change in individual measure weighting. Measures deemed by CMS in need of greater national improvement are weighted up to 150 points, while other measures have a max of 100 points. The third major change was in the measures used. Some measures were removed (e.g. pain and restraints), while others were added (e.g. long-stay ED visits) or substituted (e.g. short-stay pressure ulcers with quality reporting program’s pressure ulcer measure).
The tool is dynamic and allows users to model how a change in one or more quality measures would impact their Five-Star Quality ratings. Users can also save these values.
Source: AHCA