OHCA Alerts Providers of Quality Measures Deadline
Yesterday, OHCA staff led by Regulatory Director Mandy Smith contacted all 240 SNFs that were listed in a state report as not having submitted quality measure data to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services website. This followed a number of alerts to members regarding the program. Yesterday was the deadline for submitting data, and any facility that failed to do so will not qualify for any of the 10 quality points controlled by the web submissions. While some providers had sent in the data after the state generated its list, many others had not and were grateful for the “heads up.” At last count, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) reported that 897 facilities had registered and 833 completed the online survey at the ODJFS website. SNFs now can estimate their total number of quality points, as all of the necessary data are available. The clinical quality measures from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are still somewhat of a guess. Although SNFs have their scores on the measures used for the Ohio quality points, the reports give the mean score for comparison, not the median as specified in Ohio’s quality measures statute. A facility with a score slightly below the mean may or may not be below the median. The state is still trying to get a report from CMS that lists all facilities’ clinical measures so they can calculate the final numbers. The official quality points results will be completed in July.