Guidance on Allowance of Telehealth Encounters in eCQMs Now Available

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted guidance on the allowance of telehealth encounters for the Eligible Professional and Eligible Clinician electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) used in CMS quality reporting programs for the 2020 and 2021 performance periods. Guidance provided applies to eCQMs used in each of the following programs:

Quality Payment Program: The Merit-based Incentive Payment System and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced APMs)
APM: Comprehensive Primary Care Plus
APM: Primary Care First
Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Eligible Professionals

Measures are not eligible for 2021 reporting unless and until they are proposed and finalized through notice-and-comment rulemaking for each applicable program.

Where to Find the Guidance on Allowance of Telehealth Encounters

The guidance is available on the eCQI Resource Center in the following locations:

2020 Performance Period: Telehealth Guidance for eCQMs for Eligible Professional/Eligible Clinician 2020 Quality Reporting, on the Eligible Professionals and Eligible Clinicians page for the 2020 Performance Period.
2021 Performance Period: Telehealth Guidance for eCQMs for Eligible Professional/Eligible Clinician 2021 Quality Reporting, on the Eligible Professionals and Eligible Clinicians page for the 2021 Performance Period.

CMS has updated the Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals Table of eCQMs to indicate guidance on allowance of telehealth:

2020 Performance Period: Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals Table of eCQMs
2021 Performance Period: Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals Table of eCQMs

Other eCQM resources for Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals, including eCQM specifications and materials such as the Guide for Reading eCQMs, eCQM Logic and Implementation Guidance, and technical release notes, are also available on the eCQI Resource Center on the Eligible Professionals and Eligible Clinicians page for the 2020 Performance Period and the Eligible Professionals and Eligible Clinicians page for the 2021 Performance Period.

For More Information

To find out more about eCQMs, visit the eCQI Resource Center.

For Questions Regarding eCQMs

To report questions or comments on the eCQM specifications, visit the eCQM Issue Tracker. Note that an ONC Project Tracking System (Jira) account is required to ask a question or comment.