Distribution Date: Monday, March 18, 2019

Subject: Now Accepting Public Comments on the Draft 2020 CMS QRDA I Implementation Guide for Hospital Quality Reporting

Headline: Visit the ONC Project Tracking System (JIRA) Website to Submit Official Comments by April 8, 2019

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the draft 2020 CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category I Implementation Guide (IG) for Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) for public comment starting on March 18, 2019 and ending on April 8, 2019. The 2020 CMS QRDA I IG outlines requirements for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals to report electronic clinical quality measures for the calendar year 2020 reporting period.

The draft 2020 CMS QRDA I IG for HQR contains the following high-level changes as compared with the 2019 CMS QRDA I IG:

• The IG upon which the 2020 CMS QRDA I IG is based – the HL7 Implementation Guide for Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Release 2: Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category I, Release 1 – has been updated from Standard for Trial Use (STU) Release 5 to STU Release 5.1, published in December 2018. The main purpose of that update is to support Quality Data Model (QDM) version 5.4.

How to submit comments:

• Ticket number: QRDA-775.
• A JIRA account is required to submit a comment.
• Comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on April 8, 2019.

Please note, this is a draft document and the contents are subject to change. Content may change based on final rules. We look forward to receiving your feedback on the draft 2020 CMS QRDA I IG.

Additional QRDA-Related Resources:

Additional QRDA-related resources, as well as current and past implementation guides, are found on the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI) Resource Center QRDA page. For questions related to this guidance, the QRDA Implementation Guides or Schematrons, visit the ONC Project Tracking System (JIRA) QRDA project.