The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced relief for clinicians, providers, and facilities participating in certain Medicare quality reporting programs.
Specifically, CMS is granting exceptions for Medicare quality reporting programs with April and May 2020 deadlines. For these programs, submission is optional at this time, based on the facility’s choice to report. In addition, no data reflecting services provided January 1, 2020 through June 30, 2020 will be used in CMS’s calculations for the Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs. This is being done to reduce the data collection and reporting burden on providers responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, CMS recognizes quality measure data collection and reporting for services furnished during this time period may not be reflective of true level of performance on measures such as cost, readmissions and patient experience and plans to hold organizations harmless for not submitting data during this period.
CMS also announced the organization will continue monitoring COVID-19 and assess options to bring additional relief to clinicians, facilities and their staff, so they can focus on patient care.
To keep current with COVID-19 developments, visit www.coronavirus.gov. For a complete and updated list of CMS actions, and other information specific to CMS, visit the Current Emergencies Website.