When validating QRDA-III documents with Cypress 2.6, we're currently getting hundreds of errors that say "Unexpected supplemental data for IPP Race", "Unexpected supplemental data for IPP Sex", etc.

The errors occur when the data for a stratification appears in the QRDA-III document and there are 0 patients that fall into that stratification. For example, if there are no male patients in the IPP, we still include the stratification of "male" but with a count of 0.

Several statements in the QRDA implementation guides explicitly say to include this supplemental data, even if the count is 0 (Examples listed below). This should not be causing an error in Cypress, and currently prevents us from certifying with Cypress 2.6.

In the 2015 Combined IG:
Section 8.3.1. Aggregate Count
The Aggregate Count captures the number of items aggregated. This template is contained in a parent template that describes the item. For CMS EP program reporting, the count must be sent even if the number is zero.

Section 8.3.11 Sex Supplemental Data Element
This observation represents the sex of a person as used for administrative purposes (as opposed to clinical gender) and provides the number of patients in the population that are of that sex. For CMS EP programs, all codes present in the value set must be reported, even if the count is zero. If the eMeasure is episode-based, the count will reflect the patient count rather than the episode count.
Similar sections exist for Payer, Ethnicity, Race, and Reporting Stratum.

In the 2014 IG:
Section 3.11 Sex Supplemental Data Element
This observation represents the sex of a person as used for administrative purposes (as opposed to clinical gender) and provides the number of patients in the population that are of that sex. For CMS EP programs, all codes present in the value set must be reported, even if the count is zero. If the eMeasure is episode-based, the count will reflect the patient count rather than the episode count.
(Same wording)