The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is holding a Special Open Door Forum today from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET on the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program.

CMS recently released new information to the hospital compare web site that reports how frequently patients return to a hospital after being discharged.

University researchers recently published a study in the journal Health Affairs, that examines the relationship between nurse work environments and patient satisfaction.  Researchers found that better nurse work environments led to improved patient satisfaction in several ways.

CMS has released a bulletin that clarifies what types of questions are appropriate to ask inpatients when they are in the hospital, to avoid conflicts with HCAHPS survey items.

News story roundup: HHS Issues final ICD-10 code sets; Medicare launches PHR Choice pilot in Arizona and Utah; The Joint Commission puts HCAHPS results on qualitycheck.org;  Rand releases Rand COMPARE (Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts) to help with the evaluation of health policies.

HQA preview reports are now available at QualityNet.  Of note - the December 2008 reporting will be the final time hospitals participating in the Inpatient Prospective Payment System will be able to suppress their data to remain eligible for the RHQDAPU payment updates.