The following resources were offered regarding the SNF QRP:

· A new SNF FAQ document for FY2023

· FY2025 Annual Payment Update (APU) table for reporting assessment-based quality measures and the new Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements

· Data Collection and Final Submission Deadlines for FY2024 and FY2025 SNF QRP data.

CMS reminded providers that the Care Compare refresh for quality data will next occur on October 26 and include data from the following periods:

• All SNF QRP claims-based measures will use data from Quarters 3(Q3) & Q4 of 2019 and Q3 of 2020 through Q2 of 2021. The reason for the gap is due to the fact that CMS waived reporting during the first half of 2020 because of the public health emergency.
• The new healthcare associated infections (HAI) requiring hospitalization measure will report data from Q4 of 2020 through Q3 of 2021.
• The COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage among Healthcare Personnel measure will reflect data from Q4 2021 and be publicly reported for the first time in the October Care Compare refresh.

CMS staff addressed some confusion about the CDC NHSN reporting on the Influenza Vaccination of Healthcare Personnel that arose from the September 27 webinar. (The webinar recording for this session will be replayed on October 19, 2020 at 1p ET and providers can register here.) CMS said that all CMS certified nursing homes are required to report including freestanding, those associated with acute care and non-critical access hospitals (CAHs) with swing beds. SNFs can submit the data for this measure as an annual summary report or more frequently (e.g. monthly) for the dates October 1, 2022 (or the date by which the vaccine is available) – March 31, 2023 but all data must be reported no later than May 15, 2023. According to the FAQ, if data is submitted other than in a single report, “The information submitted would be used to calculate one summary score for the measure which would be used to determine compliance with the SNF QRP.” For nursing homes that are part of a hospital, CMS noted that the parent hospital would make these reports.

Related to the MDS transition to the iQIES system, providers were reminded that the process of onboarding providers is ongoing at that to date 40% of organizations have identified one or more security officials within their organization. Providers will be expected to set up a new user id called a HARP Account and training on this process can be found here. CMS underscored the importance of having more than one security official to accommodate absences and said while vendors can be a security official for the organization, they should not be the one to establish the original account and assign roles within the organization. Providers should also consider carefully who on their staff require access to the MDS data and the appropriate level of access should be the minimum amount necessary. Finally, the file submission will continue to be an XML but where it is submitted will be new. Additional resources related to iQIES that were shared include: iQIES Onboarding Full Guide and the iQIES Role Matrix.