Despite years of tracking and reporting outcome-based quality measures, preventable harm remains widespread, prompting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to launch the Patient Safety Structural Measure (PSSM). Released in August 2024, this measure focuses on structural and cultural root causes of harm rather than just retrospective results of quality improvement initiatives.
The PSSM evaluates hospitals based on adherence to 25 structural quality and safety elements across five domains—leadership commitment, strategic planning, culture of safety, accountability and transparency, and patient/family engagement. Failure to report can result in reduced Medicare payments, and every hospital’s PSSM score will be publicly available beginning in 2026.
In this article for KevinMD, ECG’s Kim Adelman explains what hospital leaders need to know about the PSSM and how they can prepare.
