New Opportunity to Report Your Quality Malnutrition Care to CMS
Effective January 1, 2024, the Global Malnutrition Composite Score (GMCS) is a new quality measure that will be available for reporting in 2024 by hospitals participating in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program.
Stewarded by the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics and developed by Avalere, the GMCS is the first nutrition-focused quality measure in any CMS payment program. It is also the first electronically specified composite measure. Addressing malnutrition for hospitalized adults, its 4 components reflect the key steps in the inpatient malnutrition care workflow that are necessary to identify and manage malnutrition risk in a timely and effective manner.
Introduction to Hospital IQR Program and Quality Measure Reporting
CMS’s Hospital IQR Program is a voluntary pay-for-reporting program. The Hospital IQR Program includes facility reporting of inpatient quality-of-care measures and is tied to a hospital’s Medicare Annual Payment Update (APU). To receive full payment for the care provided, hospitals are required to submit data on specific measures for health conditions common to Medicare patients that typically result in hospitalization. Hospitals that elect not to participate or that do not meet requirements do not receive the full APU. More information about IQR can be found on CMS’s website.
Benefits to Patients and Hospitals from Reporting on the GMCS
Several benefits to patients and hospitals can result from implementing malnutrition QI programs and tracking and reporting on the GMCS. These include, but are not limited to:
- CMS has classified the GMCS as a health equity measure. Identifying and addressing malnutrition in hospitals and throughout the care continuum across all populations—including those as highest risk—aligns with the priorities of the Biden administration to advance health equity as well as The Joint Commission’s new requirements to identify and take action to reduce healthcare disparities.
- Reporting on the GMCS could impact several other quality measures in other payment programs related to poor outcomes associated with malnutrition and exacerbation of other conditions, such as CMS’s Star Rating measures on readmission rates.
- The GMCS can help integrated health systems in population health contracts to drive QI initiatives addressing malnutrition across the care continuum—by first identifying and addressing it within the hospital—to improve health outcomes and reduce costs as well as meet overall population health goals.
- Improving patient health outcomes by ensuring delivery of appropriate care based on acuity of patients’ conditions and other individualized needs.
- Aligning with latest quality measure infrastructure and interoperability standards and following guidance for refinement based on close correspondence with CMS and the National Quality Forum.
Read more at: https://malnutritionquality.org/gmcs-for-iqr/