In October 2012, Medicare implemented a new Hospitals Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program established by the Affordable Care Act to reward hospitals that provide high quality care for their inpatients.
The national VBP results have been recently published, and West Virginia Hospitals-East’s City Hospital in Martinsburg received the highest score among all West Virginia hospitals for the VBP quality reward.
“City Hospital was the number one hospital in West Virginia for the VBP quality program,” stated Anthony Zelenka, chief administrative officer. “This is a major quality of care accomplishment that the entire City Hospital team can take pride in.”
In Fiscal Year 2013 under the Hospital VBP Program, Medicare began making incentive payments to hospitals for providing better clinical outcomes for hospital patients as well as improving their patient experience of care. This pay-for-performance approach affects payment for inpatient stays in over 3,500 hospitals across the country.
“The Affordable Care Act has moved us from a payment system based on quantity of services to a system that focuses on quality of care and a better patient experience,” Zelenka commented. This new approach supports the mission, vision and values of City Hospital and the entire WVUH-East health system, he added.
