How Do Five Quality and Value Issues Fare Under the Senate Reform Bill?

Value-based purchasing. In the Senate bill, Medicare payment policies would promote quality outcomes, including hospital and physician value based purchasing and incentives for quality reporting and improvement for all Medicare providers.

Quality improvement in private health plans. The Senate bill would require plans offered in a state health exchange to reward quality by including payment incentives related to quality reporting, case management, chronic disease management, prevention of avoidable hospital admissions, improvement in patient safety, and promotion of wellness initiatives. Health insurance plans in the exchange would be required to limit contracts with hospitals with more than 50 beds to those with patient safety evaluation systems and comprehensive discharge planning programs.