Distribution Date: Thursday, March 5, 2020

Subject/Header: Now Accepting Public Comments on the Draft 2021 CMS QRDA I Implementation Guide (IG) and Schematron for Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the draft 2021 CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category I Implementation Guide (IG) and Schematron for Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) for public comment starting on March 5, 2020 and ending on April 1, 2020. The 2021 CMS QRDA I IG outlines requirements for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals to report electronic clinical quality measures for the calendar year 2021 reporting period. Visit the QRDA Issue Tracker on the ONC Project Tracking System (Jira) website to Submit Official Comments by April 1, 2020.

The draft 2021 CMS QRDA I IG contains the following high-level changes compared to the 2020 CMS QRDA I IG:

• Alignment with Health Level 7 (HL7) Clinical Document Architecture (CDA®) R2 IG: QRDA Category I (QRDA I), Release 1, STU Release 5.2
• Guidance for submitting Hybrid Hospital-Wide Readmission for the 2021 voluntary reporting period

The draft 2021 CMS QRDA I Schematron updates include:

• QRDA Category I Report – CMS (V7): Updated extension to "2020-02-01" and updated to contain Patient Data Section QDM – CMS (V7)
• Patient Data Section QDM – CMS (V7): Updated extension to "2020-02-01"
• Incorporated schematron updates from the base HL7 QRDA I STU Release 5.2 Schematron

How to submit comments:

• Ticket number: QRDA-861

• A JIRA account is required to submit a comment.
• Comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. ET on April 1, 2020.

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 2021 CMS QRDA I IG and Schematron.

Additional QRDA-Related Resources:

To find out more about QRDA and eCQMs, visit the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI) Resource Center.

For questions related to the QRDA Implementation Guides and/or Schematrons, visit the ONC Project Tracking System (Jira) QRDA project.