The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week updated the SNF Quality Reporting Program (QRP), with changes to specifications used to calculate quality measures effective on Oct. 1.
In terms of measures slated for removal from QRP, CMS doesn’t address how these gaps will impact requirements for reporting in its latest update, Jessie McGill, curriculum development specialist for the American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing (AAPACN) told Skilled Nursing News.
“Effective with the FY 2025 SNF QRP Program year, the Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and Care Plan measure, as well as the two GG Outcome Measures for Change in Self-Care and Change in Mobility measures are still included in the manual, but the manual notes they are removed/retired from SNF QRP,” said McGill.
Since the FY 2025 program year uses 2023 data, providers have been focusing on managing data for these measures all year – particularly discharge goal setting data. These items will still be collected on the Minimum Data Set (MDS) v1.18.11, but won’t be used in the 2025 program year, she added.
These data elements are still in Section GG, she said, and the SNF QRP Overview of Data Elements Used for Reporting Assessment-Based Quality Measures and Standardized Patient Assessment Data Elements Affecting FY 2025 Annual Payment Update (APU) Determination.
“It will be interesting to see if CMS updates this file to align with the removal of these measures,” said McGill. Failure to report discharge goals shouldn’t affect facility reporting compliance with the Annual Payment Update (APU) threshold, since the admission and discharge functional assessment and goal measure won’t be used for 2025’s SNF QRP.
Of note is the Influenza Vaccine Coverage Among Health Care Personnel measure to begin next month, McGill said.
This measure is able to be calculated and reported much quicker than other measures, she said, since the deadline of May 15 for reporting aligned with other measures collected throughout calendar year 2022.
Another notable difference in updates, McGill said, involves the new discharge function score measure. New SNF QRP measures typically report on only one quarter of data during the first year, but this measure will have four full quarters of data for calendar year 2023, she said.
“Usually new items are added to the MDS in October for the measure calculation, but since that data used is already being collected, the measure will be publicly reported October 2024, using all of calendar year 2023 data,” noted McGill.
One more item of note in the updates are transition rules and the need to hang onto the SNF QRP V4 manual for a little while longer, she said. That’s because CMS clarified that the assessments with reference dates before Sept. 30, of 2023 will abide by the current SNF QRP manual. “ Assessments with an ARD of [Oct. 1, 2023] and later, using the MDS v1.18.11 item set will need to use this new SNF QRF V5 manual,” explained McGill.
Companies featured in this article:
AAPACN, American Association of Post Acute Care Nursing, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS
