Now Available: Addendum to the 2018 CMS QRDA I Implementation Guide for Hospital Quality Reporting

Now Available: Addendum to the 2018 CMS QRDA I Implementation Guide for Hospital Quality Reporting

---

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published an addendum to the 2018 CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category I Implementation Guide (IG), originally published in July 2017. This addendum includes six new conformance statements specific to CMS programs and updates the description of one other conformance number. The IG provides technical instructions for QRDA Category I reporting for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) reporting electronic clinical quality measures for the calendar year 2018 reporting period for the following programs:

• Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program
• Medicare and Medicaid Promoting Interoperability (PI) Programs for eligible hospitals and CAHs

The conformance numbers, validations performed, and descriptions of the error messages and file rejections are listed below and are intended to be included in Table 13: Other Validation Rules for HQR Programs in section 5.3 of the updated IG.

• CMS_0078: QRDA file size exceeds (10) MB.
• CMS_0082: CMS EHR Certification ID does not meet year/version criteria – The EHR system needs to be certified to 2014 or 2015 Edition or a combination of 2014 and 2015 for CY18/PY20.
• CMS_0083: CMS EHR Certification ID format is not valid – CMS EHR Certification ID must be 15 alpha numeric characters in length.
• CMS_0084: Either the Patient HICN or MBI is required for hybrid measure/Core Clinical Data Elements (CCDE) submissions – QRDA files for hybrid measure/CCDE submissions must contain a HICN or MBI.
• CMS_0085: CMS Program name and Measure ID are not compatible – CMS Program name for hybrid measure/CCDE submissions must be HQR_IQR_VOL.
• CMS_0086: Measure type is not consistent across QRDA files within the batch – Files containing hybrid measure/CCDE submissions and eCQM cannot be submitted within the same batch.

Additional QRDA-Related Resources:

To find out more about QRDA and eCQMs, visit the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI) Resource Center.

For questions related to the QRDA IGs and/or Schematrons, visit the ONC Project Tracking System (JIRA) QRDA project.

For information and guidance about commonly occurring QRDA conformance errors, the 2018 QRDA I Conformance Statement Resource is available on the eCQI Resource Center.

For questions about the QualityNet Secure Portal, contact the QualityNet Help Desk or call (866) 288-8912, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET