Reporting Rates of Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcers: Well Intentioned but Inaccurate

Since 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have used administrative data (based on hospital coding) to report hospital-acquired conditions, such as pressure ulcers, to the public. Beginning in 2014, hospitals that perform in the lowest quartile will have their payments reduced by 1% for all hospitalized Medicare recipients. However, use of administrative data to assess rates of pressure ulcers among hospitalized patients has not been validated.

Researchers performed a retrospective analysis, comparing the rate of patients with at least one hospital-acquired pressure ulcer (stage II or higher) reported in administrative databases with the rate reported by direct examiners (bedside nurses and wound care specialists who we…