In 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century that identified deficiencies and trends in the United States healthcare system. In this report, the IOM outlined the essence of quality health care as safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable, paving the way to today’s health care quality programs in an effort to produce optimal care and outcomes (IOM, 2001). Kelly (2014) states that “health quality policy may be thought of as a subset within health policy… A variety of federal, state, and local government agencies and private organizations assess, monitor, and oversee the quality of healthcare delivered by health plans, facilities, integrated delivery systems, and individual practitioners” (p. 121). One such agency is the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In order for an organization to receive reimbursement from CMS, it must meet certain standards set by the federal government (Kelly, 2014).
CMS outlined the federal government’s quality measures and expectations on a website for health care professionals and patrons. On this site, CMS defined quality measures as “tools that help us to… quantify healthcare processes, outcomes, patient perceptions, and organizational structure and/or systems that are associated with the ability to provide high quality healthcare” (CMS, 2016, para. 2). The quality measures ensure all Medicare beneficiaries receive quality
CMS outlined the federal government’s quality measures and expectations on a website for health care professionals and patrons. On this site, CMS defined quality measures as “tools that help us to… quantify healthcare processes, outcomes, patient perceptions, and organizational structure and/or systems that are associated with the ability to provide high quality healthcare” (CMS, 2016, para. 2). The quality measures ensure all Medicare beneficiaries receive quality