CMS, ONC seek feedback on clinical data gathering

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT are requesting input from providers across the healthcare continuum on the challenges of gathering clinical measures data.

The Certification Frequency and Requirements for the Reporting of Quality Measures under CMS Programs, issued today, seeks comments on the certification requirements for electronic health records and how many clinical quality measures they should track.

Kate Goodrich, MD, director of CMS' Center for Clinical Standards & Quality, stressed the desire to reduce burdens on providers and IT systems alike. "We are working diligently to improve the means for information exchange and electronic data sharing across and among providers and health systems, increase opportunities for stakeholders to provide feedback and enhance mechanisms for the capturing of clinical information in EHRs, registries and other systems to assist with quality reporting and care coordination," she said in a blog post yesterday.

The deadline to comment is 5 p.m. Feb. 1, 2016. To provide feedback and participate in the request for information, visit www.regulations.gov and refer to file code CMS-3323-NC.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.