On August 1, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System (PPS) Final Rule.

Final changes to the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) include the following:

• Amend the definition of “EHR reporting period for a payment adjustment year” for participating eligible hospitals and CAHs to define the EHR reporting period in CY 2025 as a minimum of any continuous 180-day period within CY 2025;
• Modify requirements for the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) Guides measure to require eligible hospitals and CAHs to attest “yes” to having conducted an annual self-assessment of all nine SAFER Guides at any point during the calendar year in which the EHR reporting period occurs, beginning with the EHR reporting period in CY 2024;

• Amend the definition of “EHR reporting period for a payment adjustment year” such that eligible hospitals that have not successfully demonstrated meaningful EHR use in a prior year will not be required to attest to meaningful use by October 1st of the year prior to the payment adjustment year, beginning with the EHR reporting period in CY 2025;
• Modify the response options related to unique patients or actions for objectives and measures for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for which there is no numerator and denominator, and for which unique patients or actions are not counted. The response option for these objectives and measures would read “N/A (measure is Yes/No)”;
• Adopting three new electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, beginning with the CY 2025 reporting period, as one of program participant’s three self-selected eCQMs, in alignment with the Hospital IQR Program:

• • Hospital Harm – Pressure Injury eCQM (CBE #3498e)
  • Hospital Harm – Acute Kidney Injury eCQM (CBE #3713e)
  • Excessive Radiation Dose or Inadequate Image Quality for Diagnostic Computed Tomography (CT) in Adults (Hospital Level – Inpatient) eCQM (CBE #3663e).

For More Information

To learn more about the FY 2024 IPPS and LTCH Prospective Payment System Final Rule policies, including all of the updates for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, review the rule at the Federal Register (CMS-1785-F and CMS-1788-F). Also, reference the Final Rule press release and fact sheet.

Promoting Interoperability Program Resources

For more information on the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, visit the Promoting Interoperability Program website.

For an overview of the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, including program history, current requirements, and more, please watch the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program 101 webinar recording or view the slides.

View this Final Rule in the Federal Register for August 28, 2023