Section 3004 of the Affordable Care
Act authorized the establishment of a new quality reporting program
for Long Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs). Section 3004 of the ACA 3004
states that beginning in FY 2014, LTCHs that fail to submit quality
measures data to CMS, may be subject to a 2 percentage point
reduction in their annual update to the standard Federal rate for
discharges occurring during a rate year. CMS implemented The LTCH
Quality Reporting Program (LTCHQR Program) in the FY 2012 IPPS/LTCH
PPS final rule (76 FR 51743 through 51756) pursuant to Section 3004
of the Affordable Care Act. In this rule, CMS set forth the initial
framework for the LTCHQR Program and established the LTCH providers
would begin to report quality data on October 1, 2012. The
Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Continuity Assessment Record &
Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LTCH CARE Data Set) was developed
specifically for use in LTCHs for data collection of quality
measure data. The first quality measure data items that were added
to the LTCH CARE Data Set were the NQF # 0678 pressure ulcer
measure items. In the FY 2013 IPPS/LTCH PPS final rule (76 FR 51743
through 51756), CMS retained the three measures that had been
previously adopted in the FY 2012 rule and adopted two new measures
(NQF #0680 and NQF #0431) for the FY 2016 payment determination.
The new NQF #0680 measure will be collected using the LTCH CARE
Data Set. Therefore, the LTCH CARE Data Set must be revised to
include additional data items for this new measure. Also, in the FY
2013 IPPS/PPS LTCH Final Rule, it was decided that other revision
to the LTCH CARE Data set would be necessary. For a full list of
these changes refer to Section 1 of the Supporting Statement
A.
PL:
Pub.L. 111 - 148 3004 Name of Law: Quality reporting for LTCHs,
inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, and hospice programs
PL: Pub.L. 111 - 148 3004 Name of Law:
Quality reporting for LTCHs, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals,
and hospice programs
There will be an increase in
the time and wage burden to LTCHs for the completion of the LTCH
CARE DATA Set because of several factors: (1) the increase in the
number of LTCH discharges and number of LTCHS in the U.S. in the
burden calculation causes an increase in the total number; (2) the
addition of a new measure will cause an increase in the time that
it takes to complete the LTCH CARE Data Set.; (3) the LTCHQR
Program went live on 10/01/12 and after getting feedback from LTCHs
about the time it takes to complete the LTCH CARE Data Set on their
patients, we reviewed our prior burden calculation. We realize that
we had under-estimated the burden estimate for the LTCH CARE Data
Set. To correct this, we added additional clinical staff and
administrative staff time to our current burden calculation. This
has caused an increase in the total burden calculation.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.