MU Stage 2 Final Rule Elicits Few Cheers

The final rule for CQMs provides for a menu-based reporting system. Eligible professionals will submit nine CQMs from at least three of the National Quality Strategy (NQS) domains. Eligible hospitals and CAHs will submit 16 CQMs from at least three of the NQS domains.

AHA contends that the change complicates the reporting of CQMs compared to the MU Stage 1 requirements. Chantal Worzala, director of policy for the AHA, told HealthLeaders Media that for Stage 1, all hospitals reported on the same 15 quality measures and EHR vendors needed to be able to produce all of the hospital CQMs.

For Stage 2 she says there is a much broader pool of CQMs and EHR vendors can select the CQMs they want to produce. "It raises a very large question in our minds about whether or not this choice that CMS finalized, is a real choice. We do need to use certified EHR technology to report the measures, but if our vendor has not been certified against a particular measure, we can’t choose it. That’s a pretty complicated scenario," explains Worzala.

"If your vendor can choose which measures they care to be certified against, it’s not clear that you have a choice on which measures to report."