Implications of COVID-19 for Hospitals, Physicians, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Hospice, Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities, Long Term Care Hospitals, and Skilled Nursing Facilities: CMS Extends Deadlines for and Grants Exceptions to Quality Reporting Requirements

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has relieved from quality reporting obligations millions of healthcare providers that participate in various CMS programs. According to CMS, this unprecedented relief affects 1.2 million clinicians and a range of healthcare facilities that participate in the CMS programs listed below:

Provider Programs

• Quality Payment Program – Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)
• Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)

Hospital Programs

• Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting Program
• CrownWeb National ESRD Patient Registry and Quality Measure Reporting System
• End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Incentive Program
• Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program
• Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program
• Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program
• Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program
• Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program
• Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting Program
• PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program
• Promoting Interoperability Program for Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals

Post-Acute Care (PAC) Programs

• Home Health Quality Reporting Program
• Hospice Quality Reporting Program
• Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Quality Reporting Program
• Long Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting Program
• Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Reporting Program
• Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Program

For more information about how these quality reporting extensions and exceptions could apply to your healthcare business and for additional information about current regulatory and sub-regulatory guidance issued by federal and state agencies, contact Barry Liss, Co-Leader of the Gibbons Healthcare Team.

To view all client alerts in Gibbons “The Coronavirus Pandemic and Your Business: How We Can Help” Series, click here. Please also be sure to follow Gibbons on LinkedIn for a continuous feed of COVID-19 related updates and other important business, industry, and firm news.