HH Secretary Tommy G Thompson has a...

HH Secretary Tommy G Thompson has announced an initiative to improve the quality of care provided by way of home health agencies by reporting quality information about these agencies to the characters who rely on Medicare and Medicaid programs. HHS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin the first phase of this initiative this spring in eight states (Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, recently made known Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and West Virginia) on publishing the quality information of dwelling health agencies in these states to increase awareness of by what mode performance differs across agencies and to help stimulate family circle health agency quality improvement. This information will be available in newspapers in the eight states and online at www.medicare.gov and will be promot between the walls of CMS' local Quality Improvement Organizations. The public reporting will be based onward 11 quality measures, including four measures related to improvement of patient mobility (i.e., walking, getting in and revealed of bed, and using the toilet without assistance); four measures related to improvement in meeting daily basic penurys (i.e., bathing, dressing, and taking daily medicines); pair measures related to medical emergencies; and single measure related to improvement in mental health. from one extremity to the other of 2003, CMS will refine and expand the initiative to include quality information for abode health agencies in all 50 states.

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