The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published Version 0.1 of the 2017 CMS Implementation Guide for Quality Reporting Document Architecture Category III (QRDA-III) Eligible Clinician Programs with schematrons and sample files. As CMS continues to build the submission portal for eligible clinician reporting, ongoing testing and feedback from stakeholders is essential. As part of this process, we encourage our partners and stakeholders to utilize these tools and provide feedback on an ongoing basis. We have made the guide, schematrons and sample files available for a public comment period on the ONC QRDA JIRA Issue Tracker until April 1, 2017. CMS values our stakeholder’s feedback and encourages feedback as soon as you have it available so any issues can be assessed and addressed, if possible. A JIRA account is required to comment. You can find the implementation guide and supplemental documents on the CMS eCQM Library and the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI) Resource Center. Additional information pertaining to eligible clinician reporting can be found on the Quality Payment Program website.

This Version 0.1 implementation guide provides CMS-specific instructions for submitting QRDA-III documents for the 2017 performance period for the:
•Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+)
•Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)

General Background:
•QRDA-III is a standard document format for the exchange of aggregated electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data. QRDA is one format CMS supports for eCQM submission.
•The implementation guide defines the form and manner required to implement a valid QRDA file for submission.
•The Schematron ensures that the submitted files follow all requirements defined in the implementation guide.

The Version 0.1 2017 CMS Implementation Guide for QRDA-III Eligible Clinician Programs contains the following high-level changes compared with the reporting specifications for Eligible Professionals in the 2016 CMS Implementation Guide for QRDA-III Eligible Professional Programs. The Version 0.1 2017 implementation guide:
•Replaces the term “Eligible Professional” with “Eligible Clinician”.
•Only contains CMS QRDA-III reporting guidance for eligible clinician programs. The QRDA Category I is no longer an accepted submission method in 2017 for eligible clinician programs.
•Is based on the HL7 Implementation Guide for CDA Release 2 Quality Reporting Document Architecture – Category III, Standard for Trial Use (STU) Release 2. The HL7 implementation guide includes template updates to:
•Support advancing care information and improvement activities performance categories under the MIPS; and
•Address the HL7 September 2016 ballot cycle ballot reconciliation.
•Includes updated eCQM Universally Unique IDs (UUIDs) based on the April 2016 annual update eCQM specifications, advancing care information measure identifiers, and improvement activities identifiers.
•Provides implementation reporting guidance for the CPC+ and MIPS programs.
•Establishes new requirements for adding C4 filtering based on the 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria final rule for the CPC+ Program.

The Version 0.1 2017 implementation guide does not contain the following previously published information. You can find these resources on the CMS eCQM Library:
•The April 2016 annual update eCQM specifications for 2017 reporting; and
•Reporting instructions for the Hospital Quality Reporting Program for Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals

For More Information:
You can find current and past QRDA implementation guides, Schematrons, and Sample Files on the CMS eCQM Library and the eCQI Resource Center. For questions related to the QRDA Schematron, visit the ONC QRDA JIRA Issue Tracker. For questions related to the Quality Payment Program, visit the Quality Payment Program website at qpp.cms.gov.