Executive SummaryThe Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program adjusts hospital inpatient Medicare payments based off performance on a set of quality and efficiency measures. It is one of three mandatory pay-for-performance (P4P) programs that the Affordable Care Act introduced and is managed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). VBP promotes quality care delivery, positive patient experience, and cost effectiveness by factoring each of these elements into scoring. Like the other P4P programs, low-scoring hospitals see lower reimbursement rates, but VBP is the only program in which high-scoring hospitals see an increase in their Medicare reimbursements, resulting in a net neutral effect on the budget. Show
Download the Cheat Sheet Why is the Value-Based Purchasing Program a key issue for providers?Helping to make up for penalties in other P4P programs VBP is the only program in which hospitals can earn a bonus payment. Although some policy analysts are critical of the program’s relatively minor financial impact compared to other P4P programs, analysis of annual VBP data indicates that bonuses can be an effective way of offsetting penalties levied in the Readmissions Reduction Program and Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HAC) Reduction Program. Setting a solid foundation for other risk-based payment initiatives VBP reimbursement impact aside, many of the metrics in the program overlap with other CMS initiatives that reward performance based on quality and cost. For example, VBP measures Medicare spending per beneficiary performance, which also impacts other risk-based payment programs like Medicare Shared Savings. In addition, strong performance on infection measures leads to positive scores for the VBP and HAC Reduction Program. Advisory Board research also indicates that in an emerging retail market, successful hospitals and health systems must offer cost-competitive, high-quality services – both of which VBP directly promotes. How does Value-Based Purchasing work? CMS calculates two scores for each measure, once for achievement (comparison to national performance standards) and once for improvement (comparison to a hospital’s historical baseline score). CMS takes the higher of those two figures into account when they measure performance for each measure. In 2020, CMS measured four domains: person and community engagement, clinical outcomes, efficiency and cost reduction, and safety. Performance on each domain is added together to form a hospital’s total performance score (TPS) of between 0 and 100. A hospital’s final VBP impact then depends on two figures, the “withhold” and the “incentive payment”. The withhold is a set percentage of a hospital’s Medicare revenue that CMS holds back each year – in 2020 this was 2%. Each hospital has the chance to earn back that reduction through their incentive payment. The incentive payment coincides with a hospital’s TPS such that the higher the TPS, the higher the incentive payment. If the incentive payment is higher than the withhold, a hospital earns a bonus; if the incentive payment is lower than the withhold, a hospital receives a penalty. How does Value-Based Purchasing affect providers?Clinical Under the VBP, CMS measures hospitals on metrics like hospital-associated infections, mortality, surgical complications. From a clinical standpoint, providers must promote care standardization for these conditions to avoid a penalty, or potentially receive a bonus. As domain weighting changes annually, providers need to be flexible in what areas they focus on, and will need to maintain diligent clinical documentation. Financial Typically, CMS collects data that contributes to the overall VBP payment determination up to four years ahead. For example, financial impact of VBP in FY 2020 is based of performance from 2015-2018. Therefore, hospitals must be aware how their quality performance today impacts payments in future years and prepare accordingly. As part of this process, hospital administrators will need to track incoming metrics from other quality payment programs so they can be prepared for potential new metrics that CMS might introduced to the program.
Hospitals need to strongly emphasize patient experience, focus on staff communication, provide clear instructions about medications, ensure a clean and quiet hospital environment, and comprehensively communicate post-discharge care plans. These will help providers improve their relationship with patients and achieve positive scores. Institutions must also find a way to encourage organizational agility and creativity, as staff must be ready to react and alter processes if VBP measures change. How might the Value-Based Purchasing Program impact provider-supplier sales relationships?VBP will play a key role in hospital budget discussions and affect hospital negotiating patterns in the following ways: Products and services that improve patient experience will become more coveted.
Opportunity exists to add VBP impact to value statement.
Providers will look to reduce unnecessary variation in care.
Conversation starters with the hospital C-suite
View our full library of cheat sheets What is a TPS score for a hospital?The Total Performance Score (TPS) is the CMS surrogate for Value and includes five domains: Process of Care, Patient Experience, Safety of Care, Outcomes and Efficiency (see Figure 3). It is important to note that Process of Care has been decreasing in weight for the TPS.
What does VBP stand for in medical terms?Linking provider payments to improved performance by health care providers. This form of payment holds health care providers accountable for both the cost and quality of care they provide.
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