Quality Measure Public Reporting Is Associated with Improved Outcomes Following Hip and Knee Replacement.

Background: Given the inclusion of orthopaedic quality measures in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services national hospital payment programs, the present study sought to assess whether the public reporting of total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) risk-standardized readmission rates (RSRRs) and complication rates (RSCRs) was temporally associated with a decrease in the rates of these outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries.

Methods: Annual trends in national observed and hospital-level RSRRs and RSCRs were evaluated for patients who underwent hospital-based inpatient hip and/or knee replacement procedures from fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2016. Hospital-level rates were calculated with use of the same measures and methodology that were utilized in public reporting.

Measuring hospital-specific disparities by dual eligibility and race to reduce health inequities.

Objective: To propose and evaluate a metric for quantifying hospital-specific disparities in health outcomes that can be used by patients and hospitals.

Data Sources/study Setting: Inpatient admissions for Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or pneumonia to all non-federal, short-term, acute care hospitals during 2012-2015.

Study Design: Building on the current Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services methodology for calculating risk-standardized readmission rates, we developed models that include a hospital-specific random coefficient for either patient dual eligibility status or African American race.