Rural Health Information Hub Latest News

Quality Measure Workspace Series of Webinars—Beginning July 15

CMS is hosting a series of webinars in July and August for hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, and clinicians reporting electronic clinical quality measures (eCQM).  The first webinar will describe the resources available for the 2021 reporting period.  Subsequent webinars will cover clinical flow (July 29) and the data element repository (August 12). Find more information here.

Comments Requested: ESRD CY 2021 Proposed Rule –September 4

On July 6, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed updates to payment policies and rates under the End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for CY 2021. The proposal includes an expansion of the transitional add-on payment adjustment for new and innovative equipment and supplies (TPNIES) to qualifying home dialysis machines to support greater access and innovation for dialysis in the home setting.  Proposed changes also include an ESRD base rate increase, updates to the outlier policy and adoption of new OMB delineations.  CMS projects that rural ESRD facilities will experience a 0.6 percent increase in their CY 2021 estimated payments.  The proposed rule is currently on display and was published in the federal register on July 13, 2020. Find more information here.

ONC: Health Information Management at Substance Abuse Treatment Centers

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) leads the federal effort to support health information technology systems nationwide.  For this report, ONC reviewed a survey conducted in 2017 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in which 13,585 U.S. substance abuse treatment centers were queried about their use of computers or electronic resources to store and exchange treatment records.  Read the report here.