The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has chosen TMF Health Quality Institute to prepare the Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Reports, known as "PEPPERs." The reports are used by general acute-care hospitals and long-term care hospitals to identify Medicare severity diagnosis-related groups (MS-DRGs) at high risk for payment errors. Many hospitals use PEPPER data to identify areas for quality improvement and prepare for greater Medicare oversight by auditors such as Recovery Audit Contractors. Previously, hospitals received the reports from their Quality Improvement Organizations. Beginning in January, they will receive them on a periodic basis from TMF through My QualityNet,
www.qualitynet.org. For more information, visit
www.pepperresources.org. A free recorded training session will be added to the Web site in January.
