Cost, Resource Use, and Efficiency

The Elective Primary Hip Arthroplasty episode-based cost measure evaluates a clinician’s risk-adjusted cost to Medicare for patients who receive an elective primary hip arthroplasty during the performance period. The measure score is a clinician’s risk-adjusted cost for the episode group averaged across all episodes attributed to the clinician.

The measure focuses on resources used to deliver episodes of care for patients who have undergone a Hip/Knee Replacement. Hip Replacement and Knee Replacement episodes are initially defined using the Episode Treatment Groups (ETG) methodology and describe the unique presence of the condition for a patient and the services involved in diagnosing, managing and treating the condition. The Procedure Episode Group (PEG) methodology uses the ETG results and further logic to creating a procedure episode that focuses on the Hip Replacement and Knee Replacement component of the care.

The measure focuses on resources used to deliver episodes of care for patients with pneumonia. Pneumonia episodes are defined using the Episode Treatment Groups (ETG) methodology and describe the unique presence of the condition for a patient and the services involved in diagnosing, managing and treating pneumonia. A number of resource use measures are defined for pneumonia episodes, including overall cost of care, cost of care by type of service, and the utilization of specific types of services.

This measure was developed to improve the quality of care delivered to patients undergoing outpatient colonoscopy procedures. The Facility 7-Day Risk-Standardized Hospital Visit Rate after Outpatient Colonoscopy Measure, estimates a facility-level rate of risk-standardized, all-cause, unplanned hospital visits within seven days of a colonoscopy procedure performed at a hospital outpatient department (HOPD) or ambulatory surgical center (ASC) among Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) patients aged 65 years and older.

This measure was developed to improve the quality of care delivered to patients undergoing general surgery procedures in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC). To assess quality, the measure calculates the risk-standardized rate of return to a hospital for an acute, unplanned hospital visit within seven days of qualified general surgery procedures performed at an ambulatory surgical center (ASC) among Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) patients aged 65 years and older.

This measure estimates a hospital-level risk-standardized readmission rate (RSRR) following PCI for Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) patients who are 65 years of age or older. The outcome is defined as unplanned readmission for any cause within 30 days following hospital stays. The measure includes both patients who are admitted to the hospital (inpatients) for their PCI and patients who undergo PCI without being admitted (outpatient or observation stay). A specified set of planned readmissions do not count as readmissions.

Hospital Visits after Hospital Outpatient Surgery measures facility-level risk-standardized rate of acute, unplanned hospital visits within 7 days of a procedure performed at a hospital outpatient department (HOPD) among Medicare Fee-For-Service (FFS) patients aged 65 years and older. An unplanned hospital visit is defined as an emergency department (ED) visit, observation stay, or unplanned inpatient admission. 

This measure was developed to improve the quality of care delivered to patients undergoing orthopedic procedures in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC). To assess quality, the measure calculates the risk-standardized rate of acute, unplanned hospital visits within seven days of qualified orthopedic surgeries or procedures performed at an ASC among Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) patients aged 65 years and older. An unplanned hospital visit is defined as an emergency department (ED) visit, observation stay, or unplanned inpatient admission.