The University of Michigan Kidney and Epidemiology Cost Center (UM-KECC), develops, maintains, and updates the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Measures for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), under the Quality Measure Development and Maintenance contract with CMS. These include the Dialysis Facility Care Compare (DFCC) Measures and the development of new quality measures that will be implemented in the future. Several of CMS’s current and new Quality Measures will be used by CMS in the CMS ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP). In addition, UM-KECC works with CMS’s Measures Management System (MMS) in the development, evaluation, and reporting of the current ESRD Quality Measures.
Ongoing Technical Expert Panels
Dialysis Facility Quality of Patient Care Star Rating Technical Expert Panel (TEP)
This TEP will review and provide input on options and considerations for updating and public reporting of the Star Rating, including reviewing distribution trends to determine if rebaselining in the next release is necessary and evaluating candidate quality measures for possible addition or removal to the Star Rating based on clinical/public health importance.
Meeting schedule and details (when available) will be posted on this page.
Past Activities
Patient Reported Outcomes Report
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) tasked the University of Michigan Kidney Epidemiology and Cost Center (UM-KECC) with developing recommendations that investigate avenues for acquiring the evidence, data, and infrastructure necessary to implement patient-centered measures and patient reported outcomes. Read the Patient Reported Outcomes Report.
Patient Reported Outcomes Focus Group Summary Report
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) tasked the University of Michigan Kidney Epidemiology and Cost Center (UM-KECC) to convene focus groups to review draft questions on patient safety and patient life goals. The Patient Reported Outcomes Focus Group Summary Report summarizes the feedback received from both patient and provider specific focus groups on draft questions sets for patient safety and patient life goals. Read the Patient Reported Outcomes Focus Group Summary Report.
Technical Expert Panel Summary Reports
DFCC Star Ratings (April 2015)
Access to Kidney Transplantation (April 2015)
Emergency Department Visits (May 2016)
DFCC Star Ratings (February 2017)
Patient-Reported Outcomes (May 2017)
Medication Reconciliation and Management (July 2017)
Physician Level Measures (February 2018)
Effective Availability and Utilization of Home Dialysis Modalities (June 2021)
Practitioner Level Measurement of Effective Access to Kidney Transplantation (September 2021)
Dialysis Facility Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings (March 2022)
Mineral and Bone Disorder TEP (2024)
Stakeholder Feedback for ESRD Life Goals Survey (PaLS) (2024)
Assessment of Patient Autonomy in ESRD Treatment Decision-Making (2025)
Quality Measure Information
CMS and UM-KECC maintain the measures listed below, including obtaining CBE endorsement. For information on how these measures are implemented on DFCC, please see the Guide to the Quarterly Dialysis Facility Care Compare Reports on the DFCC Methods page.
In addition, CMS and UM-KECC submitted 5 measures to CBE for review in 2016. Those measures are also included below.
Dialysis Adequacy
- Minimum Delivered Hemodialysis Dose (CBE # 0249 – reserve status)*
- Delivered Dose of Peritoneal Dialysis Above Minimum (CBE # 0318)*
- Minimum spKt/V for Pediatric HD Patients (CBE # 1423)*
- Measurement of nPCR for Pediatric HD Patients (CBE # 1425)*
- Pediatric Peritoneal Dialysis Adequacy: Achievement of Target Kt/V (CBE #2706)*
Vascular Access
- Hemodialysis Vascular Access: Long-term Catheter Rate (CBE #2978)*
- Hemodialysis Vascular Access: Standardized Fistula Rate (CBE #2977)*
Mineral and Bone Disorder
- Proportion of Patients with Hypercalcemia CBE # 1454 – reserve status)*
- Hyperphosphatemia
Mortality
Hospitalization/Readmission
- Standardized Hospitalization Ratio for Dialysis Facilities (CBE #1463)*
- Standardized Readmission Ratio (CBE #2496)*
- Standardized Ratio of Emergency Department Encounters Occurring Within 30 Days of Hospital Discharge for Dialysis Facilities (ED30)
- Standardized Emergency Department Encounter Ratio for Dialysis Facilities (SEDR)
Anemia Management
Transplant Waitlist
*Currently publicaly reported on the Dialysis Facility Care Compare (DFCC) Website
**Currently publicaly reported only in the DFCC Downloadable Database on Data.Medicare.Gov