A comprehensive federal review by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has uncovered a significant decline in health care quality during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report highlights a reversal of progress on many key quality measures, raising concerns about patient safety and persistent health equity gaps.
Prior to the pandemic, from 2016 to 2019, more than half of the quality metrics showed improvement. However, the situation drastically changed with the onset of COVID-19. In 2020, 38% of measures performed worse than expected, increasing to 47% in 2021.
Patient safety measures were particularly affected, with about half performing worse than anticipated in both years. The most alarming example was a 94% worse-than-expected rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections in 2021.
The report also revealed widening disparities in health care quality for minority populations. For instance, osteoporosis management for Black Medicare Advantage enrollees declined by 22.4 percentage points in 2021, compared to a 14.4 percentage point drop for white enrollees.
CMS acknowledged the need to develop measures addressing bias in care delivery, cultural competency deficits, unmet health-related social needs, access issues, and health literacy. The agency aims to use this data and feedback from focus groups to improve health care quality and equity in the wake of the pandemic’s impact on the health care system.
As the nation continues to grapple with the aftermath of COVID-19, these findings underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions to restore and enhance health care quality for all Americans.
See “Health care quality took a big hit during COVID, Medicare report finds” (February 29, 2024)