Care Compare on Medicare.gov Data Update (January Refresh): Now Available

Updated Care Compare on Medicare.gov now available:

Care Compare on Medicare.gov (Medicare.gov/care-compare), formerly known as Dialysis Facility Compare, is a website that allows patients and health centers to view and compare quality data about dialysis facilities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also uses these data, organized into a series of measures, to create a star rating system that can help patients make educated decisions about where to get their dialysis treatments.

What’s in the January 2024 refresh?

The January 2024 refresh is one of a series of updates made each year on the Medicare.gov/care-compare website. Additionally, the January 2024 refresh reflects the latest data from dialysis facilities, including payment year (PY) 2024 End Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program (ESRD QIP) public reporting files. These files contain scoring and measure performance for ESRD QIP measures, as well as any associated payment reductions, for all eligible outpatient dialysis facilities in PY 2024.

What data will be updated with the January 2024 refresh?

The following clinical care quality measures on the Medicare.gov/care-compare website have been updated with data from April 2022-March 2023:

• Adult and pediatric patients who had enough waste removed from their blood during hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis
• Adult patients who had too much calcium in their blood
• Adult patients who received treatment through an arteriovenous fistula
• Adult patients who had a catheter (tube) left in a vein for at least three consecutive complete months, for their regular hemodialysis treatments
• Measurement of normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR) for pediatric hemodialysis patients
• Patients who were on the kidney or kidney-pancreas transplant waiting list
• COVID-19 healthcare personnel (HCP) vaccination

The following measures have been updated on the Provider Data Catalogue website:

• Hemoglobin management
• Phosphorus concentrations in the blood

Additionally, CMS updated the Care Compare on Medicare.gov website (Medicare.gov/care-compare) and on the Provider Data Catalog website for the following ESRD QIP measures:

Care Coordination   

• Standardized Readmission Ratio (SRR)
• Standardized Hospitalization Ratio (SHR)
• Percentage of Prevalent Patients Waitlisted (PPPW)

Clinical Care

• Kt/V Dialysis Adequacy (comprehensive)
• Vascular Access Type:
  • Standardized Fistula Rate (SFR)
  • Long-term Catheter Rate
• Standardized Transfusion Ratio (STrR)

Safety

• National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Bloodstream Infection (BSI) in Hemodialysis Patients

Reporting

• Clinical Depression Screening and Follow-Up
• Hypercalcemia
• Ultrafiltration Rate (UFR)
• NHSN Dialysis Event Reporting
• Medication Reconciliation (MedRec)
• COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among HCP

What new measure is being added to Care Compare on Medicare.gov with the January 2024 refresh?

CMS is adding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) NHSN COVID-19   Vaccination Coverage Among HCP measure to Care Compare on Medicare.gov in the January 2024 refresh. CMS believes it is important to incentivize and track HCP vaccination in dialysis facilities through quality measurement to protect health care workers, patients, and caregivers, and to help sustain the ability of hospitals to continue serving their communities. This measure assesses the proportion of a dialysis facility’s healthcare workforce that is vaccinated against COVID-19.

Who is affected by the refresh?

Care Compare on Medicare.gov displays ratings of the quality of care provided by dialysis facilities based on a series of quality measures. Facilities individual measure scores are updated based on the latest data for a number of these quality measures. Facilities had an opportunity to review and address any concerns about the data with CMS prior to the refresh going live. The Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings will not be updated during the January 2024 refresh. Star Ratings from October 2020 will continue to be visible on Care Compare on Medicare.gov.

Medicare beneficiaries, facilities, stakeholders, and interested members of the general public can find this information on the Care Compare on Medicare.gov website (Medicare.gov/care-compare), as well as the Public Reporting & Certificates page on the ESRD QIP section of the CMS.gov website.

Please do not respond directly to this email. For assistance regarding the information in this message, please contact the ESRD QIP Support Team via the QualityNet Question and Answer Tool.