Educational Opportunities Proliferate, Shedding Light on Timely Reform Provisions

• The overall Three Domain of Care approach methodology, including the Clinical Process of Care & Outcome Measures and Patient Experience of Care Survey, will be used to determine a hospital’s total performance score.
• CMS affirmed the initial weights for FFY2013: 70 percent for clinical process of care measures and 30 percent for the patient experience of care survey. Weights may be adjusted in future years, given additional measures or domains such as outcome measures and efficiency domain.
• CMS affirmed the definitions and calculations of achievement and improvement standards, as well as achievement thresholds and benchmarks, which were published in the final rule for the baseline period.
• The baseline period was confirmed as the period from July 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010, and the performance period was confirmed as the period from July 1, 2011, through March 31, 2012.
• CMS affirmed the use of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey and its eight dimensions: nurse communication, doctor communication, cleanliness and quietness, responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, communications about medications, discharge information and overall hospital rating.
• VBP incentive payments will be reallocated to hospitals based on the total performance scores ranked in a linear scale, so that hospitals with higher total performance scores will receive larger incentive payments.

• Constructing the Medical Home: Bolstering Care, Outcomes and Transitions with a Multidisciplinary Team- Harness the Strength of the Medical Home Team for Best-Case Outcomes: This webinar will look at how the multidisciplinary team is engaging patients and improving outcomes as critical members of the dynamic medical home. Date: July 31, 2012 from 2:00pm-3:30pm ET. To review the learn more, click here.
• The Care Coordination Summit: New Delivery Models Transforming Healthcare: This is our annual Care Summit that will take place in Washington DC on September 14, 2012 at the National Press Club. To review the agenda and register, click here.
• Social Media in Healthcare: The Modern Link to Effective Patient Engagement: This is our latest Special Report. To review the table of contents, click here.
• Essence of Case Management: If you are new in to the practice of Case Management or preparing for one of the National Certification Examinations, this e-learning program is for you. It will help you get a clear sense of the industry and help those preparing for certificate develop a course of study that will last well past the examination. To view the agenda, click here.
• UroHealth: View our award-winning microsite and get up to date on urinary complications that impact patients with spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, neurogenic bladder and multiple sclerosis. There are 12 learning activities approved for 2.0 contacts each for nurses, social workers, case managers and disability management specialists that will inform, educate and raise your level of understanding of the challenges patients with these conditions live with on a daily and what you as a case manager can do to identify and proactively educate patients so that major setbacks to not occur. To view the programs click here.
• Case In Point Learning Network: The learning network allows you to receive Case In Point Magazine on a monthly basis directly to your Inbox. In addition, as a subscriber to the Learning Network, you are able to log into our CE Portal and complete the posttest and program evaluation for each issue and then print off your certificate of completion. To learn about the levels of membership click here.