CMS will remove the perinatal care electronic clinical quality measure ePC-05 (exclusive breast milk feeding during the newborn's entire hospitalization) from the Inpatient Quality Reporting Program on Jan. 1, 2024.
The PC-05 chart-abstracted measure will still be required for hospitals looking for advanced certification in perinatal care.
The Joint Commission said it will continue to support "exclusive breast milk feeding for the first six months of neonatal life," according to a June 29 advisory. "To support this goal, The Joint Commission will maintain both the PC-05 chart-abstracted measure and ePC-05 for optional use in ORYX® reporting."
The Joint Commission also said language used in the PC-05 performance measure will be updated; references to breastfeeding will be changed to "human milk feeding to be inclusive of donor milk and chest feeding."
With the measure becoming optional, hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission can use it to collect data and monitor efforts to improve quality.