The State of Maryland has partnered with CRISP, Maryland's state-designated health information exchange (HIE), and Medisolv, a vendor of quality management software, to become the first state in the country to successfully receive electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data from its hospitals under a new quality reporting mandate.
eCQMs are standardized performance measures that track a hospital's quality of care using data from the organization's EHR. Hospitals are required to submit eCQMs annually as part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service's (CMS) Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program and to The Joint Commission as part of its hospital accreditation.
Under the new State of Maryland initiative, hospitals are required to submit quality performance data on a quarterly basis via the Medisolv Submission Portal integrated with CRISP's HIE portal. The organizations say this will help enable the state to evaluate hospital performance, identify statewide areas for improvement, and incorporate benchmarks into policy development in a timely and consistent manner. The information gained on hospital performance will also provide the opportunity for the Maryland Health Care Commission to expand its reporting and transparency to the public.
The Maryland Health Care Commission is an independent regulatory agency whose mission is to plan for health system needs, promote informed decision-making, increase accountability, and improve access in a rapidly changing health care environment by providing timely and accurate information on availability, cost, and quality of services to policy makers, purchasers, providers, and the public. It maintains the Maryland Health Care Quality Reports website, which is a consumer-friendly tool to help assist consumers in making informed healthcare decisions and to promote greater transparency and accountability among healthcare providers.
"The State of Maryland has always been a leader when it comes to quality reporting, and this initiative aligns with our goal of delivering the right health information to the right place at the right time," said Dianne Feeney, associate director of quality initiatives for the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, in a statement. "We are proud to once again lead the way in this space, and we hope to see other states adopt this model of reporting, because it will ultimately lead to safer and more equitable, efficient, and effective care for our nation's patients."
In the pilot phase of the project, 35 hospitals successfully submitted eCQM data through the CRISP/Medisolv Submission Portal for the optional 2021 performance period. Starting July 15, 2022, all Maryland hospitals are expected to submit their 2022 performance period eCQM data on a quarterly schedule.
