On March 22, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced it is granting exceptions from reporting requirements and extensions for clinicians and providers participating in Medicare quality reporting programs with respect to upcoming measure reporting and data submission for those programs. The action comes as part of the Trump Administration’s response to COVID-19.

CMS is implementing policy exceptions and extensions for upcoming measure reporting and data submission deadlines for several CMS programs due to “the additional extreme and uncontrollable circumstances.” For those programs with data submission deadlines in April and May 2020, submission of those data will be optional, based on the facility’s choice to report.

CMS recognizes that quality measure data collection and reporting for services furnished during this time period may not be reflective of their true level of performance on measures such as cost, re-admissions and patient experience during this time of emergency and seeks to hold organizations harmless for not submitting data during this period.

Click here for the CMS press release.