Hospitals and physicians use electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) to track the quality of care patients receive. The eCQMs rely on a combination of data points from a care provider's electronic health record (EHR) system. The purpose of eCQMs is to ensure that patients are receiving effective, safe, and timely care without discrimination.
What Are Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQMs)?
Reporting eCQMs was initially voluntary, but it has been required for hospitals by law since 2016. With the use of data from a provider's EHR system and other health IT systems, the process is entirely electronic and eCQMs are generated almost automatically. To ensure that eCQMs are reported accurately, physicians must ensure they are appropriately documenting in their EHR to track the measures.
When done appropriately, hospitals that report eCQM data can satisfy the requirements of the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program and the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program with a single submission, which helps reduce filing and administrative burdens.
What Needs To Be Reported?
Since the purpose of eCQMs is to ensure the proper delivery of patient care, some of the tracked data points include patient safety, care coordination, public health services, the efficiency of resource usage, clinical processes, and engagement.
Each year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updates the program to ensure the measures keep up with new code sets and measure logic. The eCQMs also continue evolving to reflect new standards in delivering quality patient care.
Hospitals must stay on top of the eCQMs reporting requirements. Critical access hospitals (CAH) are not yet required to report eCQMs, although voluntary participation is encouraged. Ambulatory groups are also encouraged to report outpatient eCQMs.
How TempDev Can Help You Report eCQMs
TempDev’s team of experienced consultants, developers, and trainers are here to support enhanced accessibility, as well as customized features and templates. This enables you and your patients to have more control over data with improved transparency.
As part of our streamlining process, we help you implement the Patient Portal, API, and other tools to better support safety, patient engagement, and security. From dashboards to automation and workflow redesign, TempDev offers the comprehensive resources and tools you need to ensure proper reporting of eCQMs.
Contact us here or by calling us at 888.TEMP.DEV to begin reporting eCQMs.
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