Two Rural Hospitals Say Award Doesn't Matter in Pay for Performance Success - Make Your Revenue Smarter

HealthLeaders Media, August 26, 2009.

It isn’t every day that rural hospital officials eagerly discuss their abysmal practice scores in crucial care areas like heart failure or hip and knee surgery. But Cleveland Regional Medical Center in Shelby, NC, and United Hospital Center in Clarksburg, WV, now wear their low rankings almost like war medals. That’s because that poor performance is now history. Today, four years later, the facilities have improved their care of patients so dramatically in four important categories, they’ve become innovators for other hospitals throughout the country. Click titte to read more…

Cleveland and United are two of 40 rural hospitals and 190 urban hospitals participating in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ “pay for performance” demonstration project, organized by Premier Inc. Ironically, officials for the two hospitals say, the “pay” for their performance isn’t the motivator for their participation. Improving care and getting recognized for it, however, are. The effort is now in the fifth of a six-year run to see if the 230 participating facilities can be motivated by financial rewards to increase their performance in 33 process measures that correlate with better outcomes. But the first year results were a shocker.

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