Yakima Regional Medical & Cardiac Center has announced that it ranked in the top 10 percent of 805 inpatient rehabilitation facilities that qualified to be ranked in the IRF database of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation in 2009.

The rankings were determined by using UDSmr’s program evaluation model, a case mix-adjusted and severity-adjusted tool that provides facilities with a composite performance score and percentile ranking drawn from nearly three-quarters of all IRFs in the country. 

UDSmr’s PEM Report Card uses the indicators of efficiency and effectiveness contained in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Patient Assessment Instrument, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ reporting tool for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Prospective Payment System. 

The goal of the PEM Report Card is to recognize high-performing facilities for their delivery of quality patient care that is effective, efficient, timely, and patient-centered. 

“We are pleased to present this award to Yakima Regional Medical & Cardiac Center in recognition of the excellent care it provides to its patients,” said Dr. Sam Markello, Associate Director of UDSmr. “As the creator and caretaker of the nation’s largest database of rehabilitation outcomes, and with 20 years of experience and data, we have long worked with the industry to establish best practices. 

“We developed the PEM Report Card as a tool to identify and recognize facilities that perform at a high level, to work with them to learn how they achieve high performance, and to share what we learn with others to elevate the performance of all. 

“We look forward to working with Yakima Regional Medical & Cardiac Center and the other top performing facilities across the country that rank in the top 10 percent to improve care in all inpatient rehabilitation facilities.”

This is the fourth year that UDSmr has issued these awards. 

The PEM Report Card was developed as part of a solution to the Institute of Medicine’s 2006 recommendation to Congress that every Medicare provider be reimbursed on a pay-for-performance basis.