CMS, ONC Issue RFI for Federal Quality Reporting Programs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have issued a request for information (RFI) entitled “Certification Frequency and Requirements for the Reporting of Quality Measures under CMS Programs.”
The RFI provides CMS and ONC with an opportunity to assess policy options that could improve the effectiveness of the certification of health IT and specifically the certification and testing of electronic health record (EHR) products used for the reporting of quality measures. Specifically, the RFI is for CMS quality reporting programs such as, but not limited to, the EHR Incentive Programs, the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). In addition, CMS is requesting feedback on how often to require recertification, the number of clinical quality measures (CQMs) a certified Health IT Module should be required to certify to, and testing of certified Health IT Module(s).
The feedback received will inform CMS and ONC of elements that may need to be considered for certification and testing policies and other policies relating to the use of health IT to report quality measures that may be included in the upcoming rulemaking process for CMS quality programs, Kate Goodrich, M.D., director, Center for Clinical Standards & Quality, CMS, wrote in a blog post. The RFI has a 30-day comment period.
CMS recently released a Quality Measure Development Plan (MDP) to serve as a strategic framework for the future of clinician quality measure development as healthcare transitions to the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and alternative payment models (APMs), and comments for that plan will be due March 1, 2016.
