Emergency care and the national quality strategy: highlights from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Abstract

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the US Department of Health and Human Services seeks to optimize health outcomes by leading clinical quality improvement and health system transformation through a variety of activities, including quality measure alignment, prioritization, and implementation. CMS manages more than 20 federal quality measurement and public reporting programs that cover the gamut of health care providers and facilities, including both hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) and individual emergency physicians. With more than 130 million annual visits, and as the primary portal of hospital admission, US hospital-based EDs deliver a substantial portion of acute care to Medicare beneficiaries. Given the position of emergency care across clinical conditions and between multiple settings of care, the ED plays a critical role in fulfilling all 6 priorities of the National Quality Strategy. We outline current CMS initiatives and future opportunities for emergency physicians and EDs to effect each of these priorities and help CMS achieve the triple aim of better health, better health care, and lower costs.