MACRA QPP Measure Development Funding Opportunity Extended to June 5, 2018

CMS Extends MACRA QPP Measure Development Funding Opportunity Due to a System Issue

On May 29, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) learned about a global issue with the System for Award Management (SAM). This issue may affect those who wish to apply for the “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) Funding Opportunity: Measure Development for the Quality Payment Program” on Grants.gov. Therefore, CMS has extended the application deadline for this opportunity to June 5, 2018 at 3:00 pm ET. . If you have encountered an issue with SAM, please contact CMS immediately at MACRA-Measure-Funding@cms.hhs.gov for further guidance.

You can find the ‘Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) Funding Opportunity: Measure Development for the Quality Payment Program’ by searching the title or Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number, 93.986 on Grants.gov.

Please visit our webpage on the CMS website for a list of frequently asked questions and transcripts of our pre-application conference calls held in March.

Now Available for Public Comment: Draft 2019 CMS QRDA III Implementation Guide for Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals

Visit the JIRA Website to Submit Official Comments by June 20, 2018

The draft 2019 CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category III Implementation Guide (IG) for Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals has been posted for public comment.

The public comment period starts on May 30, 2018 and ends on June 20, 2018. The 2019 CMS QRDA III IG will help eligible clinicians and eligible professionals report electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) starting in the calendar year 2019 reporting period

How to Submit Comments

Ticket number: QRDA-691.
A JIRA account is required to submit a comment.
Comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on June 20, 2018.

The draft 2019 CMS QRDA III IG contains the following high-level changes/corrections as compared with the 2018 CMS QRDA III IG:

Increased alignment with its base standard, the HL7 QRDA III STU R2.1 IG
Now shows the template changes from the base HL7 QRDA III STU R2.1 IG only
Updated eCQM Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) for the 2019 performance period eCQMs that were released on May 4th, 2018. Please note, measures will not be eligible for 2019 reporting unless and until they are proposed and finalized through notice-and-comment rulemaking for the applicable program.
Changes to Performance Period Reporting:
1. Requires performance period reporting, as defined by CMS, at the level of individual measure for Quality (for MIPS) and at the level of individual activity for Improvement Activities (IA).
2. Performance period reporting for Promoting Interoperability (formerly Advancing Care Information) will remain at the category level. For CPC+ reporting, the performance period for Quality remains at the category level.
New CMS program name code “MIPS_VIRTUALGROUP” to support MIPS virtual group reporting

Please note, this is a draft document and the contents are subject to change. Content may change based on the Final rule and updated measure tables are anticipated post-final rule publication.

Additional QRDA-Related Resources:

Additional QRDA-related resources, as well as current and past implementation guides, are found on the eCQI Resource Center QRDA page . For questions related to this guidance, the QRDA Implementation Guides or Schematrons, visit the ONC QRDA JIRA Issue Tracker.

We look forward to receiving your feedback on the draft 2019 CMS QRDA III IG.