CMS calls for comments on reporting programs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a request for information regarding the collection and reporting of clinical quality measures (CQM).

The Jan. 3 document published in the Federal Register addressed to hospitals, EHR vendors and other interested parties pertains specifically to hospitals’ readiness to begin electronically report certain patient-level data through the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program using the Quality Reporting Document Architecture Category I. The CMS hopes to use commentary in its efforts to streamline quality reporting programs, to enable reporting via EHR, to reduce hospitals’ burden and to adopt standards for electronic transmission of measures.

Questions posed by CMS include:

• How do hospitals and vendors perceive the alignment of EHR-based reporting and hospital quality reporting programs? What are the foreseen benefits and challenges?

• Do hospitals and vendors envision being able to meet the criteria for reporting clinical quality measures electronically for the EHR Incentive Program?

• Is the hospital planning to electronically report CQM data, specifically venous thromboembolism, stroke and emergency department measures, under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in FY 2014?

• Does the hospital plan to report data leveraging any state health information exchange initiative?

The open comment period will end Jan. 22. The complete request for information is available at the Federal Register.