NQF Applauds Passage of IMPACT Act of 2014 

Washington, DC—The National Quality Forum (NQF) commends the Congress for passing the “Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014” or IMPACT Act, on Thursday. September 18, 2014. Both houses of Congress passed the bipartisan legislation this week, which takes important steps towards strengthening quality in the post-acute care (PAC) setting.

“This IMPACT Act, and the bi-cameral support for it, are an important indicator of the value Congress places on quality measurement to improve care,” said Christine K. Cassel, M.D., president and CEO of NQF. “This legislation will garner information that will benefit both patients and providers in post-acute settings.”

NQF supported the quality provision of the legislation, which mandates that post-acute care providers report about patient care in five areas: 1) functional status, cognitive function, changes in function 2) skin integrity and changes in skin integrity 3) medication reconciliation 4) incidence of major falls and 5) accurately communicating health information and care preferences when a patient is transferred.

Post acute care providers are also required to report on one of the following: resource use measures, discharge rates, and all-condition, risk-adjusted preventable hospital readmission rates. The measures encompassed by this legislation are required to be endorsed by the entity with the contract under section 1890a of the Social Security Act (currently NQF), and to be brought through the NQF-convened Measure Applications Partnership (MAP).

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