Merkow RP, Yang AD, Pavey E, et al. - Researchers studied differences in metrics for using public reporting between hospitals affiliated with Medicare Prospective Payment System (PPS)-exempt cancer centers, hospitals affiliated with National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers (NCI-CCs), and other hospitals that provide cancer care through a retrospective cohort study comparing hospital features and cancer-related services. Patients treated at NCI-CCs were more likely to have postoperative sepsis, acute renal failure, and urinary tract infections vs hospitals affiliated with PPS-exempt cancer centers. PPS-exempt cancer center status were linked to improved outcomes for measures including mortality, sepsis, acute renal failure, pulmonary failure, and failure to rescue vs the other hospitals providing cancer care. Investigators found that hospitals affiliated with PPS-exempt cancer centers and NCI-CCs usually had comparable hospital features, burden of patient comorbidity, and outcomes of cancer surgery. Why some cancer centers are referred to as PPS-exempt and why most hospitals do not have to report quality metrics specific to cancer publicly is a question raised as a result of these findings.