Distribution Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Subject: Now Accepting Public Comments on the Draft 2020 CMS QRDA III Implementation Guide for Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals Programs

Headline: Visit the ONC Project Tracking System (JIRA) Website to Submit Public Comments by June 5, 2019

The draft 2020 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category III Implementation Guide (IG) for Eligible Clinicians and Eligible Professionals Programs is now available for public comment starting on May 15, 2019 and ending on June 5, 2019. The 2020 CMS QRDA III IG outlines requirements for eligible clinicians and eligible professionals to report electronic clinical quality measures for the calendar year 2020 reporting period.

The draft 2020 CMS QRDA III IG contains these high-level changes, as compared with the 2019 CMS QRDA III IG and the 2019 CMS QRDA III IG Addendum:

• Changes to Performance Period Reporting:
  • Performance period reporting for the Quality and the Improvement Activities performance categories under Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is changed from either at the individual measure/activity level or performance category level to performance category level only for the 2020 performance period.
  • Performance period reporting for the Promoting Interoperability performance category remains at the performance category level only. Performance period reporting for Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) for the Quality performance category remains at the category level only.
• Updated eCQM Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) for the 2020 performance period eCQMs that were released on May 10, 2019. Please note, measures will not be eligible for 2020 reporting unless and until they are proposed and finalized through notice-and-comment rulemaking for the applicable program.
• Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) participants must include a CMS EHR Certification ID that represents the CEHRT used by the CPC+ practice sites during the performance period.

How to submit comments:

• Ticket number: QRDA-794.
• A JIRA account is required to submit a comment.
• Comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on June 5, 2019.

Please note, this is a draft document and the contents are subject to change. Content may change based on the Final Rule and updated measure tables are anticipated post-final rule publication. We look forward to receiving your feedback on the draft 2020 CMS QRDA III 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.