A recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rule would ease EHR reporting requirements over the next two years. The proposed regulation, which covers the 2018 Medicare payments for hospital inpatient services, relaxes data reporting requirements for Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) that are part of the EHR Incentive program. In 2017, eligible hospitals demonstrating meaningful use for the first time would need to submit two self-selected quarters of CQM data and report at least six selected CQMs, down from eight. CMS offered similar flexibility when it released its Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Rule in November 2016.
Meaningful Use
For the EHR Incentive Program, CMS has proposed that the reporting period in CY 2017 will be two self-selected quarters. For CY 2018 the reporting period will be the first three quarters of 2018. For both CYs 2017 and 2018, hospitals must report on at least six Clinical Quality Measures. In CY 2018, for those hospitals only participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, electronic CQM submission will be available for the two months following the close of the year ending on February 28, 2019. For eligible professionals reporting electronically, CMS proposes to modify the EHR Incentive Program reporting period from a full year to a minimum of a continuous 90-day period during the year. The Proposed Rule also aligns CQMs with the measures available under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System.
Additionally, CMS proposes that no payment adjustment will be made for professionals who render “substantially all” of their services in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC). CMS seeks public comment on the following two alternative definitions to determine the final definition regarding ASC services:
- An EP who furnishes 75 percent or more of his or her covered professional services in sites of service identified by the codes used in the HIPAA standard transaction as an ASC setting in the calendar year that is two years before the payment adjustment year; and
- An EP who furnishes 90 percent or more of his or her covered professional services in sites of service identified by the codes used in the HIPAA standard transaction as an ASC setting in the calendar year that is two years before the payment adjustment year.
Other Areas of Proposed Rule
CMS proposes to use data from its National Health Expenditure Accounts instead of data from the Congressional Budget Office to estimate the percent change in the rate of uninsurance, which is used in calculating the total amount of uncompensated care payments available to Medicare disproportionate share hospitals. CMS said this proposed change would result in DSH payments increasing by $1 billion in fiscal year 2018.
Additionally, CMS proposes using worksheet S-10 data to determine uncompensated care payments and distribution beginning in FY 2018. The agency further proposes to implement the socioeconomic adjustment approach mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act for the FY 2019 Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Finally, CMS proposes removing one measure in FY 2019 and adopting one new measure in FY 2022 and another in FY 2023.