Administrative Memos

200601

FROM: Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer
DATE: Jan 18, 2006
SUBJECT: PUBLIC REPORTING - CHART SUBMISSION FOR ANNUAL PAYMENT UPDATE
IPRO CONTACTS:

Marguerite Shaffer, RN, Senior Director, Intervention Strategies 518-426-3300, ext. 108

I am writing to remind you of an important requirement for hospitals to qualify for the Medicare annual payment update.

Hospitals that are paid for treating Medicare beneficiaries under the acute care inpatient prospective payment system receive their Medicare Annual Payment Update in accordance with Section 501(b) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. The full update is available only to hospitals that submit patient-level data to support the public reporting of performance on certain quality measures and cooperate in the validation of the data. A fundamental part of the validation process is the requirement for hospitals to submit requested charts to the Clinical Date Abstraction Center for reabstraction. This is an extremely important step, as failure to submit all of the charts requested can result in failure to receive the full annual payment update.

In the past quarter, four (4) hospitals in New York State did not submit all of the requested charts. IPRO staff made repeated calls and worked jointly with HANYS to assist these hospitals to meet this requirement. In these times of fiscal hardship for hospitals, IPRO is very concerned about the possibility of facilities losing a significant portion of revenue due to an oversight of program requirements.

IPRO is committed to the success of facilities and organizations throughout New York State and we will continue to provide the support and guidance necessary to help you succeed.

Should you have any questions concerning this memorandum, please feel free to contact Marguerite Shaffer at 518-426-3300, ext. 108.