As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reviews measures used in post-acute and long-term care settings quality programs during the pre-rulemaking process, CMS contractor Battelle on January 8, 2026 hosted a public listening session to gather feedback.

Batelle runs The Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM), a CMS-certified entity; using a consensus-based process it reviews, endorses, and maintains high-quality healthcare measures, involving experts like clinicians, patients, and tech specialists to ensure measures are meaningful and effective for improving care and reducing burdens.

A single measure is under consideration for the Home Health Quality Reporting Program, Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Quality Reporting Program, and SNF Value-Based Purchasing program: Advance Care Planning (MUC2025-020). This measure would evaluate for evidence in the medical record of an advance care plan or advance care planning discussion.

CMS confirmed during the public listening session that, if endorsed and adopted for either the Home Health or SNF settings, this measure would be adapted to be an assessment-based measure.

Several commenters expressed support for this measure, but many cautioned that the measure needed to be more than a “check-the-box” measure and that portability of advance care planning, either through the medical record or through transition of care conversations, will be essential for the meaningfulness of this measure.

The written public comment period on this measure closed on January 6, 2026 and the Pre-Rulemaking Measure Review (PRMR) post-acute care committee of PQM, on which LeadingAge is represented, will meet on January 14 to review and vote whether to recommend the measure for endorsement.

If endorsed, the measure would likely appear in future Home Health and SNF proposed payment rules for adoption in the respective quality programs.