Quality Based Reimbursement (QBR)
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The purpose of the Quality Based Reimbursement (QBR) Program is to incentivize quality improvement across three patient-centered quality measurement domains:
- Person and Community Engagement
- Clinical Care
- Patient Safety
The program works by putting two percent (2%) of inpatient hospital revenue at risk (maximum penalty/reward). It uses measures similar to the federal Medicare Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program but has an all-payer focus and can adjust domain weights to focus on MD-specific improvements.
- The measurements used for performance linked with payment must include all patients, regardless of payer.
- The measurements must be fair to hospitals.
- The measurements used should be generally consistent with the CMS VBP measures to support Maryland's annual waiver from the VBP.
- The approach must include the ability to track progress.
Key QBR Policy Documents
Rate Year 2024
Rate Year 2021
Rate Year 2020
* Designated hospital employees can access mid-year data through the CRISP Reporting Services (CRS) Portal. For non-hospital interested parties, this data is available upon request, please contact HSCRC Quality at
hscrc.quality@maryland.gov.
Rate Year 2019
* Designated hospital employees can access mid-year data through the CRISP Reporting Services (CRS) Portal. For non-hospital interested parties, this data is available upon request, please contact HSCRC Quality at
hscrc.quality@maryland.gov.
Rate Year 2018
QBR Workgroup Information