Quality incentive payments. (Expires July 1, 2013.)

(1) The department, in collaboration with the health care authority, the department of health, the department of labor and industries, the Washington state hospital association, the Puget Sound health alliance, and the forum, a collaboration of health carriers, physicians, and hospitals in Washington state, shall design a system of hospital quality incentive payments. The design of the system shall be submitted to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the legislature by December 15, 2010. The system shall be based upon the following principles:

     (a) Evidence-based treatment and processes shall be used to improve health care outcomes for hospital patients;

     (b) Effective purchasing strategies to improve the quality of health care services should involve the use of common quality improvement measures by public and private health care purchasers, while recognizing that some measures may not be appropriate for application to specialty pediatric, psychiatric, or rehabilitation hospitals;

     (c) Quality measures chosen for the system should be consistent with the standards that have been developed by national quality improvement organizations, such as the national quality forum, the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services, or the federal agency for healthcare research and quality. New reporting burdens to hospitals should be minimized by giving priority to measures hospitals are currently required to report to governmental agencies, such as the hospital compare measures collected by the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services;

     (d) Benchmarks for each quality improvement measure should be set at levels that are feasible for hospitals to achieve, yet represent real improvements in quality and performance for a majority of hospitals in Washington state; and

     (e) Hospital performance and incentive payments should be designed in a manner such that all noncritical access hospitals in Washington are able to receive the incentive payments if performance is at or above the benchmark score set in the system established under this section.

     (2) Upon satisfaction of the applicable conditions set forth in RCW 74.60.150(1), and for state fiscal year 2013 and each fiscal year thereafter, assessments may be increased to support an additional one percent increase in inpatient hospital rates for noncritical access hospitals that meet the quality incentive benchmarks established under this section.

[2010 1st sp.s. c 30 § 14.]

Quality incentive payments. (Expires July 1, 2013.)