TEP Nominations Open for Development of CKD and ESRD Cost Measures for Use in CMMI Model

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has contracted with Acumen, LLC to seek nominations for a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) that will provide input on the development of 1-2 cost measures for the Kidney Care Choices (KCC) Model from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation with quality measures under the CMS Kidney Care First (KCF) Option. Acumen is looking for 12-15 individuals with experience and expertise in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) care, nephrology practice, and measure development to take part in the TEP. We are streamlining this process to limit demands on stakeholders’ time by meeting once via webinar in September 2020 and once in early 2021. For more information, please see the Call for TEP members posting on this CMS webpage.

Nominations close on August 7, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Interested individuals may submit their nomination through this online TEP nomination form. If you would like a 508-compliant PDF version of the nomination form for submission via email instead of the online form, please email kcf-cost-measures@acumenllc.com to receive a blank form.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about this TEP.

Don’t Forget to Preview Your Physician Compare Performance Information

CMS opened the Physician Compare Preview Period on June 22, 2020 at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT). The 60-day Preview Period provides an opportunity for clinicians and groups to review their 2018 Quality Payment Program performance information before it is publicly reported on Physician Compare profile pages and in the Downloadable Database.

You can access the secured measure preview through the Quality Payment Program website.

Check out the resource below on how to preview your information:

Physician Compare Preview Period User Guide

For additional assistance with accessing the Quality Payment Program website, or obtaining your EIDM user role, contact the Quality Payment Program service center at QPP@cms.hhs.gov.

To learn more about the 2018 Quality Payment Program performance information that is available for preview as well as the 2017 clinician utilization data that will be added to the Downloadable Database, download these documents from the Physician Compare Initiative page:

The 60-day Preview Period will close on August 20, 2020 at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).

If you have any questions about Physician Compare, public reporting, or the 60-day Preview Period, please contact us at PhysicianCompare-Helpdesk@AcumenLLC.com.

Webinar Recording and Feedback Opportunity Available: Advancing Technology for Quality Reporting at CMS - Burden Reduction and FHIR

CMS recorded a presentation on how the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR) standard can be used to advance technology to reduce quality reporting burden and increase interoperability for our healthcare community. This presentation discusses the journey to FHIR® for quality, the benefits of FHIR, implementation plans for electronic quality reporting using FHIR, roadmap goals, and stakeholder readiness. CMS also recently collaborated with Health IT Vendors to conduct a pilot implementation of FHIR for quality with a vision to streamline the future of quality submissions across our programs and will share pilot results and next steps.

The webinar recording ‘Advancing Technology for Quality Reporting at CMS: Burden Reduction and FHIR’ can be found on YouTube and slides are available on the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI ) Resource Center.

The presentation focused on these learning objectives:

Burden reduction for electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) implementation and reporting
Understanding the benefits of FHIR for quality reporting
Identifying resources available to find information about FHIR for quality reporting
Describing how FHIR can replace current standards for electronic quality data capture and reporting
Understanding CMS’s roadmap for transition to FHIR for quality

CMS invites you to provide feedback by responding to a FHIR Readiness Poll by Friday, August 31, 2020. *Please note, the webinar recording states tso provide feedback by August 8^th, but the feedback opportunity has been extended to August 31^st.

Submit FHIR-related questions to the eCQI Resource Center team at ecqi-resource-center@hhs.gov.

Find information about FHIR and other standards on the eCQI Resource Center.