CMS has contracted with Abt Associates and RTI International to develop a cross-setting Post-Acute Care measure for the quality measure domain – medication reconciliation.
In this measure, medication reconciliation and drug regimen review are defined as:
Medication Reconciliation – the process of comparing the medications a patient is taking (and should be taking) with newly ordered medications in order to identify and resolve discrepancies. (Reference: The Joint Commission, National Patient Safety Goals).
Drug Regimen Review – a review of all medications the patient is currently using in order to identify any potential adverse effects and drug reactions, including ineffective drug therapy, significant side effects, significant drug interactions, duplicate drug therapy, and noncompliance with drug therapy. (Reference: Home Health Conditions of Participation §484.55c).
“CMS has contracted with Abt Associates and RTI International to develop a cross-setting Post-Acute Care measure for the quality measure domain – medication reconciliation.”
Project Objectives:
- Introduce drug regimen data elements for capturing data for a drug regimen measure in the medication reconciliation domain for PAC settings.
- Refine measure specifications.
- Identify setting-specific needs/concerns/barriers for capturing drug regimen review/medication information using the data elements.
- Gather feedback on importance, feasibility, usability and potential impact of adding drug regimen review data elements for quality measurement as new items to existing PAC assessment instruments in Home Health (HH), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRF), Long Term Care Hospital (LTCH) and Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) settings.
- Identify additional guidance required for the implementation in each setting of care.
Documents and Measures for Comment:
Lisa Remington is president and publisher of the Remington Report magazine and President of Remington’s Home Care Leadership Think Tank. She has worked with more than 10,000 organizations in both a consultancy role and an educator. Lisa monitors the complex key trends and forces of change to develop a correct strategic approach to de-risk decision-making and create sustainable futures across the healthcare continuum.
