MCLEAN, VA – Northrop Grumman will be developing a Web-based patient information application that will give Medicare providers comprehensive assessments of patients discharged from post-acute care.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services selected Northrop Grumman to gather data so the agency can establish post-acute care payment and quality reform measures by using the demographic and health information, and patient assessments at hospital discharge and the subsequent post-acute care captured by the system.
“The project is aimed at standardizing assessment methods across the various settings and helping CMS develop recommendations for how to best determine a fair system for prospective payment for post-acute care,” said Michele Kang, vice president of health solutions for Northrop Grumman’s IT sector.
The survey instrument is currently being tested.
“Possible enhancements to the online survey are currently being explored and include a downloadable version that can be completed offline and a data import capability that would allow providers to upload data in a standard file format (using HL7 standards) from their legacy systems to the Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation application,” she said.
The solution may be used for other assessments and be incorporated into electronic health records, Kang said.
Jeff Nelligan, director of media affairs for CMS, said the agency wanted a tool to help serve its Medicare beneficiaries more efficiently and effectively. “This (patients discharged from post-acute care) is a population we want to monitor more closely,” he said.
Creating a Web portal is simple, but developing a usable system for physicians that collects data in real time is complicated, said Barry Hieb, research director for Gartner.
“I applaud CMS for trying this, but there are so many complexities that government organizations don’t take into account,” he said.
“It’s possible that a major payer like CMS can superimpose de facto standards on the industry and have all Medicare patients treated this way,” Hieb said.
However, Hieb said he’s doubtful that this type of solution can be deployed nationwide.