January 2, 2018

MHA Today is provided as a service to members of the Missouri Hospital Association. Additional information is available online at MHAnet.

In This Issue
CMS And TJC Release National Hospital Inpatient Quality Measures Specifications Manual Version 5.4
CoxHealth Acquires Barton County Memorial Hospital

What You Need To Know This Week

• Congress returns to Washington this week. Watch for information from MHA reminding our congressional delegation about its unfinished business regarding health care.
• The Missouri General Assembly will convene its 2018 legislative session on Wednesday, Jan. 3 — MHA’s legislative agenda is outlined in our legislative guide.

Upcoming Webinar
Rethinking the Workforce: Strategies for Establishing a Volunteer Nurse Program

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018
noon - 1 p.m.

Register on or before Tuesday, Jan. 30.

Quality and Population Health

CMS And TJC Release National Hospital Inpatient Quality Measures Specifications Manual Version 5.4

Staff Contact: Sherry Buschjost

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and The Joint Commission released the Specifications Manual for National Hospital Inpatient Quality Measures, version 5.4, for the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program. Version 5.4 is for implementation with acute inpatient discharges from July 1 through Dec. 31, 2018, and is available on QualityNet. Updates have been made based on ongoing alignment discussions between CMS and TJC. Items of special interest include the following.

• updated early management bundle, severe sepsis/septic shock measure set and algorithm
  • removed 30 data elements
  • added five new data elements
• updated measures in tobacco treatment measure set and algorithm (TOB-2, TOB-2a, TOB-3, TOB-3a)
  • removed the ICD-10-CM principal and other diagnosis codes on table 12.3 exclusion
• updated data dictionary
• updated Appendix A
  • removed code from table 4.01
  • added code to table 7.04
  • removed table 12.3
• updated Appendix H
  • added new medication to table 2.1

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Noteworthy

CoxHealth Acquires Barton County Memorial Hospital

Staff Contact: Carol Boessen

On Monday, Jan. 1, Barton County Memorial Hospital, located in Lamar, Mo., officially joined CoxHealth, which is based in Springfield, Mo. Barton County Memorial Hospital has been renamed Cox Barton County Hospital.

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Consider This ...

January is National Blood Donor Month. Only 7 percent of people in the U.S. have the universal blood type, O negative, and it is the most requested blood type by hospitals.

Source: American Red Cross