The annual list of measures being considered by CMS for inclusion in Medicare quality reporting and value-based programs is less than a third of the length of the previous list, reflecting the agency’s new commitment to reduce what physicians see as burdensome reporting standards.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) failed to report disciplinary action taken against providers and delayed reviews of complaints against physicians, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Just 34 hospitals voluntarily submitted electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data to the Joint Commission in 2015. For 2016, the number reporting skyrocketed to 436 hospitals, according to the commission’s annual report.

Dozens of new or revised elements of performance have been included in the Joint Commission’s new emergency management standards, which will be the basis for accreditation surveys beginning on Nov. 15.

Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Leapfrog Group, alleging it knowingly used incorrect information in downgrading the hospital’s safety rating from an “A” to a “C” in its fall 2017 safety grade report.

Management consultant Jorge Perez has purchased nearly 20 rural hospitals in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Florida and other states and managed to save them from closing. His secret, however, appears to involve billing insurance companies for laboratory work not performed at those hospitals.

A “C” grade was the most common for hospitals analyzed in the fall edition of the Leapfrog Group’s hospital safety grades report, the first to include results for Maryland hospitals.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH, said the agency is launching a new initiative called “Meaningful Measures” aimed at focusing quality reporting on outcome-based measures, rather than processes.