IMPACT Bill Will Advance Assessment Item Standardization and Quality across the Care Spectrum

The Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014 was signed into law on Monday, October 6th. The Act will require post-acute care providers, defined as Home Health Agencies (HHAs), Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs), and Long-Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs), to report standardized assessment data, as well as standardized quality and resource use measures. The IMPACT Act has bipartisan support, was developed with extensive consultation with the stakeholder community and has received broad stakeholder support.

The act will also fund the collection of payroll-based staffing data, and includes provisions that were in the Hospice Opportunities for Supporting Patients with Integrity and Care Evaluations (HOSPICE) Act, including the institution of more routine surveys of hospice providers.

Below is the language of the enrolled bill.

IMPACT Act language