The Leapfrog Group issued a call to action for individuals and organizations to join with us in urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to rescind their proposed removal of a critical patient safety measure.
Specifically, Leapfrog is strongly recommending that CMS not remove the “Death Among Surgical Inpatients with Serious Treatable Complications” measure, also known as Patient Safety Indicator 4 (PSI-4), from the Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program for the following key reasons:
- PSI-4 is a powerful and important patient safety measure, and patient safety is one of the most significant death risks Medicare beneficiaries and the public will ever encounter.
- Leapfrog uses PSI-4 in its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade and it’s one of the highest priority measures for purchasers and consumers.
- Deaths counted in PSI 4 can be prevented by hospitals; deaths from all causes are not always the fault of the hospital.
- PSI-4 is a surgical measure. There are very few measures that are focused on surgical safety or surgical outcomes in general.
- Improvements to PSI-4 can occur while the current measure continues to be included in the IQR and is publicly reported.
More than 75 organizations and individuals signed on to our letters that were submitted to CMS on June 28, 2021. View the specific letter regarding PSI-4 here and the full letter outlining Leapfrog's comments on the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) FY 22 Proposed Rule here.
Due to advocacy efforts, CMS has retained PSI-4 and addressed many other Leapfrog comments. View a summary analysis of the final IPSS rule here.