Updates to the Exceptions Granted for Four Value-Based Purchasing Programs

On August 25, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new Interim Final Rule (IFR) that updates the previous Extraordinary Circumstances Exceptions (ECE) granted to ESRD facilities, hospitals, and SNFs to reduce the data collection and reporting burden on these facilities and providers so they could direct their full resources to patient care during the early months of the pandemic. CMS is now updating ECEs that granted ECE for the following value-based purchasing programs:

• The End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program (ESRD QIP);
• The Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program;
• The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP); and
• The Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (HVBP) Program.

Under these updated ECEs, CMS will only score data that was optionally reported for fourth quarter CY 2019.  It is also excluding data optionally reported for the first two quarters of CY 2020.