Medicare inpatient quality reporting deadline unchanged

Hospitals participating in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Inpatient Quality Reporting program must electronically submit electronic clinical quality measure data via the QualityNet secure portal by March 13 at 11:59 p.m. PT in order to meet IQR requirements and receive a full payment update in 2018 under the inpatient prospective payment system. The AHA is aware that some hospitals have experienced technical issues with submitting data via QualityNet and has communicated that information to CMS. Hospitals experiencing technical difficulties with QualityNet that might interfere with their ability to submit data by the deadline are encouraged to retain records, such as screenshots, of their attempts to submit measure data in case they are needed for filing an extraordinary circumstance exception request with CMS by April 1. For assistance regarding the QualityNet Secure Portal, file error messages or electronic health record hospital reports, contact the QualityNet Help Desk at qnetsupport@hcqis.org or (866) 288-8912. For other assistance with inpatient quality reporting, contact the Hospital Inpatient Value, Incentives, and Quality Reporting Outreach and Education Support Team at https://cms-ip.custhelp.com or (844) 472- 4477. Eligible professionals, hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program also must attest using the Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Registration and Attestation System by March 13 at 11:59 p.m. ET. CMS extended the deadline for eligible professionals to electronically report eCQMs for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and for the Physician Quality Reporting System Program to March 31.