CMS Updates

Posted By: Roberta Mullin September 8, 2017

CMS has recently communicated the following update to providers. Subscribe to their email updates at CMS.gov.

Disaster Exceptions and Exemptions for Medicare Certified Providers Affected by Hurricane Harvey
CMS is granting exceptions under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs to acute care hospitals, PPS-exempt cancer hospitals, inpatient psychiatric facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospices, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, outpatient dialysis facilities, long-term care hospitals, and ambulatory surgical centers located in areas affected by Hurricane Harvey due to the devastating impact of the storm. These providers will be granted exceptions without having to submit an extraordinary circumstances exception request if they are located in one of the Texas counties or Louisiana parishes, all of which have been designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a major disaster county. Learn how to apply.

2018 MIPS Performance Period QCDR and Qualified Registry Self-Nomination Period Opens
The 2018 Quality Payment Program self-nomination period for vendors interested in participating as a Qualified Registry or a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) will begin on September 1, 2017 and will close at 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) on November 1, 2017. Please submit your completed self-nomination form prior to the close of the self-nomination period to be considered; late submissions will not be accepted. Download the toolkit from the MACRA resources on CMS.gov.

Updates to eCQM Value Sets for Q4 2017, and 2018 Reporting and Performance Periods
CMS and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) will publish updates to the electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) value sets to align with the most recent releases to terminologies, including, but not limited to, International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 Clinical Modification (CM) and Procedure Coding System (PCS), SNOMEDCT, LOINC, RxNorm, and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT). CMS will publish two addenda containing updates to these terminologies for the 4th Quarter (Q4) 2017 reporting period, and 2018 reporting and performance periods. Read the details.