News: 2% fewer hospitals earn Medicare bonuses under value-based purchasing

In fiscal year (FY) 2018, 57% of hospitals earned Medicare incentive payments under the Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program. In FY 2019, that number will decline to 55%, or roughly 1,550 hospitals, according to CMS.

Similar to last year, roughly $1.9 billion will be awarded to hospitals in the form of value-based payments in FY 2019, Modern Healthcare reported. The program is paid through a 2% reduction in all payments and is budget-neutral, meaning the highest-performing hospitals can earn back bonuses greater than the payment reduction, while others may receive small or no payment increases.

For FY 2019, the majority of hospitals will see only a small change to their DRG payments, with the average adjustment being 0.17%. The highest-performing hospital in FY 2019 will receive a payment increase of 3.67% while the lowest-performing hospital’s payment will be cut by 1.59%, according to CMS.

Even though slightly fewer hospitals received bonuses, the average performance scores across all the hospitals in FY 2019 improved from last year, according to Modern Healthcare. The average total performance score was 38.1, a slight increase from last year’s average score of 37.4.

According to CMS, the FY 2019 program results will be publicly reported on the next update of the Hospital Compare website.

Editor’s note: To read Modern Healthcare’s coverage of this story, click here. To read the full release from CMS, click here. To read about CDI’s involvement with quality reporting programs, click here.