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Rural Health
News by Topic: Healthcare quality

Apr 28, 2025 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is seeking comments on the following information collections: 1) National Implementation of the In-Center Hemodialysis CAHPS Survey; 2) Disclosure and Recordkeeping Requirements for Grandfathered Health Plans under the Affordable Care Act; and 3) Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the Affordable Care Act. Comments are due by May 28, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 15, 2025 -

Nominations are being accepted for the Endorsement & Maintenance (E&M), Pre-Rulemaking Measure Review (PRMR), and Measure Set Review (MSR) committees. Eligible committee members include clinicians, healthcare facilities, purchasers, policymakers, researchers, patients, caregivers, and more. E&M committee members review and endorse clinical quality and cost/resource use measures to ensure effectiveness, safety, and that they are evidence-based. PRMR committee members recommend quality and efficiency measures to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. MSR committee members review measures for continued use in CMS programs and are selected from the PRMR committee. Nominations are due May 15, 2025.

Source: Partnership for Quality Measurement
Apr 14, 2025 - Pre-publication notice of a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updating the hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap amount for fiscal year 2026. Includes proposals related to admission to hospice regulations and the hospice face-to-face attestation requirements under the certification of terminal illness regulations. This proposed rule also includes a technical correction to the regulatory text and provides updates to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program requirements. Among other things, this rule seeks comments regarding requests for information surrounding future measure concepts for Hospice Quality Reporting Program. Includes rural references and considerations throughout. Comments are due within 60 days of the publication of this notice, which is scheduled for April 30, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 14, 2025 - Pre-publication notice of a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updating the FY 2026 prospective payment rates, outlier threshold, and wage index for Medicare inpatient hospital services provided by inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPF), including psychiatric hospitals and excluded psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or Critical Access Hospital. Includes a proposed revision to the payment adjustment factors for teaching status and for IPFs in rural areas. This proposed rule also proposes changes to measures used in the Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Quality Reporting (IPFQR) Program and changes to update and codify the Extraordinary Circumstances Exception policy. Among other things, this rule seeks comments regarding potential future revisions to the IPFQR Program. Comments are due by June 10, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 14, 2025 - Pre-publication notice of a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seeking comments on updates to the prospective payment system for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) for fiscal year 2026. Among other things, this rule proposes classification and weighting factors for the IRF prospective payment system's case-mix groups, continues the second year of the 3-year phase-out of the rural adjustments, and includes proposals for the IRF Quality Reporting Program. Comments are due by June 10, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Apr 14, 2025 - Pre-publication notice of a proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that would update the skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system (PPS) payment rates for fiscal year 2026. Among other things, this rule includes proposals to update the requirements for the SNF Quality Reporting Program and the SNF Value-Based Purchasing Program. Comments are due by May 28, 2024. Comments are due within 60 days of the publication of this notice, which is scheduled for April 30, 2025.
Source: Federal Register
Mar 3, 2025 - Notice from the Indian Health Service (IHS) allowing an additional 30 days for comments on the extension of an information collection titled "Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery." Information collected will be used to plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of services. Comments are due by April 2, 2025.
Source: Federal Register