CMS is seeking comments from hospitals, electronic health record (EHR) vendors, and other interested parties regarding whether hospitals could be ready as early as January 1, 2014, to electronically report patient-level clinical data under the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program using the same certified EHR technology that is used for reporting under the EHR Incentive Program. Under the hospital IQR Program, hospitals report data on selected quality measures to CMS, which makes the data available to the public, and hospitals that fail to report required data are subject to reductions in their Medicare payments. Currently, most of the clinical quality data submitted under the IQR Program is manually abstracted from hospital charts. Seeking to streamline data submission and hoping to improve efficiency for reporting, CMS is considering whether automatic collection and reporting of data on clinical quality measures required under the IQR Program could be accomplished through certified EHR technology. To survey hospitals and EHR vendors, CMS is asking a number of questions, including the following:
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How do hospitals and vendors perceive the alignment of EHR-based reporting and hospital quality reporting programs? What are the foreseen benefits and challenges?
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Is the hospital planning to adopt EHR technology that has been certified to the 2014 Edition EHR certification criteria during or before CY 2014?
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Is the hospital aware of the payment adjustments authorized under the HITECH Act beginning in FY 2015 for failing to demonstrate meaningful use under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program?
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Is the hospital planning to electronically report clinical quality measures (CQM) data – specifically venous thromboembolism (VTE) and stroke (STK) and emergency department (ED) measures – under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in FY 2014?
The entire list of questions posted by CMS and information on how to submit comments is available here.
Comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. EST on January 22, 2013.
Reporter, Christina A. Gonzalez, Houston, +1 713 276 7340, cagonzalez@kslaw.com.
