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Posted By: HHS/ONC/CMS Communications February 9, 2026

ICYMI, here is recent communication from CMS.

Events

2026 QCDR Measure Development Webinar

When: Thursday, February 12, 2026
Time: 1:00 – 2:30pm ET
To register: Please email the QCDR Vendor Support Inbox at QCDRVendorSupport@gdit.com, and the PIQMMS team will provide the registration link to participate.

CMS will host a webinar providing an overview of the suggested QCDR measure development and evaluation processes. CMS and the Practice Improvement and Quality Measures Management Support (PIQMMS) team will also review the resources that are available to QCDRs as they work on any new QCDR measures or updates to existing QCDR measures. This webinar won’t be used to consider additional QCDR measure submissions for the 2026 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance period. This webinar is intended to assist with the development of QCDR measures for future MIPS (2027 and beyond) performance periods.

2026 CMS Burden Reduction Conference

When: Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm ET
Where: Hybrid
Register for this event.

This year’s conference will be a hybrid event, with in-person programming at the Hubert H. Humphrey (HHH) Building in Washington, DC, and a fully supported virtual option for remote attendees. In-person attendance will be limited due to space.

Building on insights and successes from the 2023 and 2024 Optimizing Healthcare Delivery conferences, this year’s event will convene change makers from the healthcare community and federal government to share new ideas, lessons learned, and best practices aimed at increasing transparency, transforming chronic care, and empowering clinicians and patients through the use of Artificial Intelligence.

Quality Payment Program

Calendar Year (CY) 2026 Call for Improvement Activities Submission Form
2026 Call for Improvement Activities is Opening February 1. CMS is opening the 2026 Call for Improvement Activities.

This submission period is from February 1, 2026, through July 1, 2026. CMS encourages interested parties to submit proposed new activities and proposed modifications to existing activities, especially those that could be included in the new subcategory:

  • Advancing Health and Wellness.

Improvement activities recommended for inclusion or modification should be submitted using the 2026 Improvement Activities Submission Template available on the CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP)Resource Library. The completed template should be sent to the email: CMSCallforActivities@abtassoc.com. Interested parties will receive an email confirmation for their submission.

Improvement activities submitted between February 1 and July 1, 2026, will be considered for inclusion for the CY 2028 performance period, 2030 MIPS payment year. Improvement activities submitted after July 1, 2026, will be considered for inclusion in future years of the QPP.

2026 Quality Benchmarks and Other Resources Available on QPP Website
CMS has updated the QPP website to include 2026 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) webpages and resources. Learn more about the updates below.

2026 Quality Benchmarks
We’ve published 2026 historical benchmarks for quality measures on the Benchmarks webpage of the QPP website. Benchmarks are the point of comparison we use to score the measures you submit. Your performance on each measure is compared to its benchmark to determine how many points the measure can earn.

From the Benchmarks webpage, you can download:

  • 2026 Quality Benchmarks
  • 2026 Quality Benchmarks User Guide with Scoring Examples (PDF, 1.3MB)
  • 2026 Multiple Performance Measure File (XLSX, 135KB)

2025 QPP Data Submission is Now Open
CMS has opened data submission for the 2025 performance year of the Quality Payment Program (QPP). Data can be submitted and updated until March 31, 2026, 8 p.m. ET.

How to Submit and Review Your 2025 MIPS Data

Follow the steps outlined below to submit data:

  • Go to the QPP sign in page.
  • Sign in using your QPP access credentials.
  • Submit your data for the 2025 performance year or review the data reported on your behalf by a third party. (You can’t correct errors with your data after the submission period, so it’s important to make sure the data submitted on your behalf is accurate.)

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