CMS finalized changes to the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for hospitals demonstrating meaningful use of certified EHRs in the 2024 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule.
The rule, issued Aug. 1, solidified the following changes for 2024:
1. Under the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience Guides, hospitals will have to affirm they have conducted annual self-assessments for all nine guidelines during the calendar year.
2. The definition of an "EHR reporting period for a payment adjustment year" will be defined as a minimum of any continuous 180-day period within the 2025 calendar year. The definition was also adjusted so hospitals that didn't demonstrate meaningful EHR use for a prior year won't be required to attest to meaningful use by Oct. 1 of the previous year, which will begin in 2025.
3. For objectives and measures in the program that don't include a numerator and denominator, and unique patients or actions aren't counted, CMS will modify response options to read "N/A (measure is Yes/No)."
4. CMS adopted three new electronic clinical quality measures for eligible hospitals to align with the Hospital IQR Program beginning in 2025, including:
- Hospital Harm — Pressure Injury
- Hospital Harm — Acute Kidney Injury
- Excessive Radiation Dose or Inadequate Image Quality for Diagnostic Computed Tomography (CT) in Adults (Hospital Level — Inpatient)