Approach to Designee Vetting

ATTACHMENT 8

Million Hearts® Hospital / Health System Designation – Approach to Designee Vetting

Million Hearts® Hospital / Health System Designation – Approach to Designee Vetting

CDC and CMS are proud to recognize hospitals and health systems which exemplify a demonstrated commitment to the cardiovascular health of the population and communities they serve. The following vetting process is designed to ensure that recognized clinical entities are free from issues that might otherwise distract from the messages of the Million Heart Initiatives.

Independent hospitals, health systems, as well as the individual hospitals within a health system who are applying for recognition must attest to being free from sanctions and current investigations for serious institutional misconduct, nor have a record of serious infractions within the last three years.

Infractions which could potentially preclude participation include, but are not limited to, convictions or pending investigations of criminal or health care offenses such as fraud; theft or other financial misconduct; patient abuse or neglect, such as patient dumping; and/or an ongoing pattern of non-compliance.

Health systems with multiple hospitals that are applying for a system-wide recognition must attest that all individual entities meet these criteria or can show a defined internal corrective process which has been initiated to address any identified issues at the time of submission.

CDC and its partners may utilize the following resources to confirm this attestation:

Statements of Deficiency Citations: http://www.hospitalinspections.org/

• Hospitals included in the submission must disclose any immediate jeopardy citation within the past three years, which will be reviewed for potential disqualification

• Additionally, condition-level non-compliance within the past year and/or those entities with a history of serious or repeated condition level citations will be reviewed for potential disqualification. You may check https://qcor.cms.gov for “Deficiency Count.”

Office of the Inspector General: https://oig.hhs.gov/about-oig/about-us/index.asp

• Hospitals included in the submission should not have been accused of patient dumping, have a Corporate Integrity Agreement, or other serious issues, within three years.

Hospital Compare

• Hospitals included in the submission should not have a pattern of 1-2 star ratings in Medicare’s Hospital Compare system.

Media Coverage search

Hospitals included in the submission should not have significant media coverage within the last 3 years for inappropriate practices which could reflect poorly on CMS and CDC.