Value-based incentive programs (VBIPs) aim to drive improvements in quality and reduce costs by linking financial incentives or penalties to hospital performance. However, a new study has found no evidence these programs had any measurable association with changes in catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) rates in U.S. hospitals. This is the first study to look at how these federal payment programs impact healthcare-associated infections.
In 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services implemented VBIPs to financially reward or penalize hospitals based on quality metrics. These programs targeted hospitals’ rates of certain healthcare-associated infections deemed preventable. Previous studies demonstrated minimal impact of these payment programs on measures of hospital processes, patient experience and mortality. However, their impact on patient safety metrics, including healthcare-associated infection rates, had been unknown.
Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute examined changes in trends for different CAUTI-related quality measures in nearly 600 hospitals across the country. They found no evidence that the VBIPs had any measurable association with CAUTI rates in the critical care units of U.S. hospitals. In particular, implementation of these programs was not associated with reductions in device-associated CAUTI rates, the measure that the programs explicitly target.
According to the researchers, these results are relevant to public health because they provide crucial information on whether these federal payment programs should continue in their current form in the future. “Given the time, money and effort involved in these programs’ administration and lack of demonstrated benefit to patients, we hope that policymakers will learn from the limitations of these programs and consider revision and simplification prior to their further expansion,” added Dr. Hsu, a pediatric hospitalist at Boston Medical Center.
