To continue its commitment to promoting and prioritizing interoperability of health care data, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is overhauling and streamlining the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs for hospitals as well as for the Advancing Care Information performance category of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which is one track of the Quality Payment Program. 

This change will move the programs beyond the existing requirements of meaningful use to a new phase of EHR measurement with an increased focus on interoperability and improving patient access to health information.

To better reflect this focus, effective immediately CMS is renaming:

• The EHR Incentive Programs to the Promoting Interoperability (PI) Programs for eligible hospitals, critical access hospitals, and Medicaid providers
• The MIPS Advancing Care Information performance category to the Promoting Interoperability performance category for MIPS eligible clinicians

Please note that this re-branding does not merge or combine the EHR Incentive Programs and MIPS. In the coming weeks, CMS will be updating its websites and educational resources to reflect this change. For more details,  visit the EHR page on the CMS website.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the eCQM annual update for the 2019 reporting period for Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), and the 2019 performance period for Eligible Professionals and Eligible Clinicians. CMS updates the specifications annually to align with current clinical guidelines and code systems so they remain relevant and actionable within the clinical care setting. These updated eCQMs are fully specified and are to be used to electronically report 2019 clinical quality measure data for CMS quality reporting programs. Measures will not be eligible for 2019 reporting unless and until they are proposed and finalized through notice-and-comment rulemaking for each applicable program. Read the full story.