Electronic Clinical Quality Measures survey results published

The Joint Commission, American Hospital Association, and the Federation of American Hospitals sent out a survey to 886 hospitals this March asking for feedback on the Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQM). The eCQMs, which deal with data from electronic health records and health information technology system, are due for release on February 28, 2017. This July, the organizations heard back from 319 hospitals and released the survey results:

•    86% of hospitals say they plan on submitting eCQMs to CMS by the February 2017 deadline.
•    While 76% of hospitals say they have the skill level and knowledge to implement eCQMs, only 64% can afford health IT support. Many said they’ll have to change electronic health record vendors to stay compliant.
•    More than 85% have never successfully submitted eCQM patient level data to CMS.
•    58% haven’t or don’t know if they can generate a Quality Reporting Document Architecture [QRDA] 1 document.
•    79% haven’t or don’t know if they’ve ever successfully generated a QRDA1 doc.
•    Surveyed hospitals asked The Joint Commission for more forums, webinars, and a comprehensive library of eCQM resources to help with the transition.

The Joint Commission’s Pioneers in Quality program is using these results to determine the best way to help facilities comply with the eCQMs. The Joint Commission plans to follow up with a second survey on the eCQMs this fall. Click here to see the full survey results.