CMS To Reduce Medicare Payments For 30% Of ESRD Centers.

In continuing coverage, American Medical News  (12/27) reported in its "News in Brief" section that "Medicare payments to about 1,500 end-stage renal disease facilities will be reduced by up to 2% in 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Dec. 15." CMS explained that "the pay rate adjustments are the result of a value-based purchasing program involving nearly 5,000 facilities during the 2010 reporting year, during which the government measured facilities' anemia management and dialysis adequacy. Nearly 70% of those facilities achieved high scores on the quality measures and will not be penalized in 2012, CMS said." The item quoted CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, who stated, "The real purpose of value-based purchasing is to raise the bar on quality, and that's exactly what CMS is aiming to do for Medicare patients who have" end-stage renal disease (ESRD).