Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Spotlights & Announcements

Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Spotlights & Announcements

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Updates

March 15, 2024

LTCH Provider Preview Reports – Now Available

The Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available. These reports contain provider performance scores for quality measures, which will be published on Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog (PDC) during the June 2024 refresh.

For more information, please visit the CMS LTCH QRP Public Reporting website.

February 14, 2024

SUMMARY REPORT PUBLISHED: LTCH QRP Listening Session: Administrative Burden of the LTCH QRP

CMS has published a summary report on the virtual LTCH QRP Listening Session that was held on October 17, 2023 by Acumen, LLC. This session was held to seek feedback from LTCH providers on potential improvements to the LTCH QRP, the LTCH Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LCDS), advancements to interoperability, and opportunities to enhance provider education. The report presents a summary of the presentation for each discussion topic, stakeholder input for each of the discussion questions, and key findings. The discussion topics included an overview of the LTCH QRP and the maturation of the LCDS, the current state of interoperability in LTCHs, and existing and potential future methods of provider education from CMS. This report can be found on the LTCH QRP Measures Information page.

February 9, 2024

Reminder of Upcoming Data Submission Deadline

The submission deadline for the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) is approaching. LTCH Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LCDS) assessment data and data submitted via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for July 1 – September 30 (Q3) of calendar year (CY) 2023 are due with this submission deadline.

All data must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. on February 15, 2024.

It is recommended that the applicable Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) reports and NHSN analysis reports are run prior to each quarterly reporting deadline to ensure that all required data were submitted. We encourage you to verify all facility information prior to submission, including CMS Certification Number (CCN) and facility name.

View the list of measures required for this deadline on the LTCH Quality Reporting Data Submission Deadlines webpage.

For submission information, visit:

Swingtech sends informational messages to LTCHs that are not meeting Annual Payment Update (APU) threshold on a quarterly basis ahead of each submission deadline. If you need to add or change the email addresses to which these messages are sent, please email QRPHelp@swingtech.com and be sure to include your facility name and CCN along with any requested email updates.

February 1, 2024

CMS LCDS Manual Version 5.1

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is publishing the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LCDS) Manual, Version 5.1, effective October 1, 2024. A Change Table outlining the revisions to the CMS LCDS Manual Version 5.1 is also published.

The Manual and Change Table can be accessed via the Downloads section of the LTCH CARE Data Set and LTCH QRP Manual webpage.

January 19, 2024

NOW AVAILABLE: CMS FAQ Document and Methodology Report for the Post-Acute Care Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports

In October 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released two Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports to post-acute care (PAC) providers: the Discharge to Community (DTC) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report and the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report.

To answer frequently asked questions and to provide methodological information about these reports, CMS released the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Document and the Methodology Report. The materials can be access through these links:

  • CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Document (PDF)
  • CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report Methodology Report (PDF)

December 20, 2023

Care Compare December Refresh of LTCH QRP Data – Now Available

The December 2023 Refresh of the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) data is now available on Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog (PDC).

For more information, please visit the LTCH QRP Public Reporting website.

December 15, 2023

LTCH Provider Preview Reports – Now Available

The Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available. These reports contain provider performance scores for quality measures, which will be published on Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog (PDC) during the March 2024 refresh.

For more information, please visit the CMS LTCH QRP Public Reporting website.

December 15, 2023

NOW AVAILABLE: CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports Live Q&A Materials

On November 16, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted a live Q&A session about the CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports for post-acute care (PAC) providers in the Home Health (HH), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF), Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH), and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) settings, which were released in October 2023. The PAC Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports stratified the Discharge to Community and Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary measures by dual-enrollment status and race/ethnicity.

The live Q&A session gave participants an opportunity to ask CMS subject matter experts about the report’s methodologies and interpretations.

The webinar’s recording, slides, and transcript can be found at the Training webpage for HHIRFLTCH, and SNF.

December 13, 2023

NEW RESOURCE AVAILABLE: Confusion Assessment Method (CAM©) Video Tutorial

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering a video tutorial for the assessment of C1310. Signs and Symptoms of Delirium taken from the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM©) which is now collected on the LTCH Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LCDS) 5.0. This training asset demonstrates a cognitive assessment used to code the items within C1310.

This resource can be accessed through the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Training page.

December 13, 2023

CMS LCDS Quarterly Q&As, December 2023, Consolidated September 2020 to December 2023

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is publishing the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LCDS) Quarterly Q&As, in December of 2023. The document contains the consolidated Q&As from September 2020 to December 2023 so that all LTCH providers have the benefit of the clarifications to existing guidance. Through inquiries to the LTCH Post-Acute Care (PAC) Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Help Desk, CMS identifies the opportunity to clarify or refine guidance.

The Quarterly Q&A document can be accessed via the Downloads section of the LTCH CARE Data Set and LCDS Manual webpage.

December 1, 2023

LTCH QRP Claims-Based Measure Manual and Accompanying Files – Now Available

The Long-Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Claims-Based Measures Manual and accompanying documents are now available. These documents contain information on how to calculate claims-based measures used in the LTCH QRP.

For more information, please visit the CMS LTCH QRP Quality Reporting Measures Information website.

October 26, 2023

Register for CMS’ 2023 CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports Live Q&A

On November 16, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. ET, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will host a live Q&A session regarding the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports released on October 16, 2023. The Q&A session will give participants an opportunity to ask and learn about answers to commonly asked questions regarding the report’s methodologies and interpretations from CMS subject matter experts.

Register for the live Q&A session here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CgvglG96SLu7BmfXi60j_Q

Already have questions about the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports? Please send questions to CMSHealthEquityCFRSession@ketchum.com by November 2, 2023, for potential inclusion in the Q&A session. Please note that CMS will answer as many questions as time permits and some questions will not be asked verbatim. CMS will post all questions and answers on each of the PAC Training & Education pages sometime after the webinar.

Prepare for the Live Q&A Webinar:

To prepare for the November 16 live Q&A session, please review the October 16, 2023 Online Webinar recording, with slides, a transcript, and a Fact Sheet providing an overview of the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports available in the “Downloads” section on each of the following PAC Training & Education pages:

October 16, 2023

NOW AVAILABLE: CMS Post-Acute Care Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports with Online Webinar and Fact Sheet

As part of our commitment to advance health equity and strengthen the Medicare Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have released two Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports to post-acute care (PAC) providers: the Discharge to Community (DTC) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report and the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report. To provide insight on outcome differences across social risk factors, the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports stratify these two PAC Quality Reporting Program measure outcomes by Medicare-Medicaid dual-enrollment status (duals and non-duals), as well as patient race/ethnicity (Non-White and White patients). This data is meant to provide feedback to providers about their performance for certain populations who may have been historically disadvantaged. These reports are educational for providers, and to identify opportunities for providers to focus their internal quality improvement initiatives to provide all individuals their best opportunity to achieve their best potential health outcomes.

CMS released the PAC Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports through the Internet Quality Improvement & Evaluation System (iQIES) reports folders. To locate your Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports in iQIES, please follow the instructions listed below:

  1. Log into iQIES at https://iqies.cms.gov/ using your Health Care Quality Information Systems (HCQIS) Access Roles and Profile (HARP) user ID and password. If you do not have a HARP account, you may register for a HARP ID.
  2. From the Reports menu, select My Reports.
  3. From the My Reports page, locate and select the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports folder link.
  4. Displayed for you is a list of reports available for download.
  5. Select the report name link to view the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report data

Additionally, CMS posted an Online Webinar recording with slides, transcript, and Fact Sheet providing an overview of the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports on each of the following PAC pages:

October 13, 2023

REMINDER: LTCH QRP Listening Session

The Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Quality Reporting Program (QRP)Listening Session is scheduled for next week on Tuesday, October 17th from 12:00 PM-1:00 PM ET. Acumen LLC on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is hosting a public, virtual listening session. On behalf of CMS, we are seeking feedback from administration and management staff, software vendors, and clinical staff on the LTCH QRP provider burden. If you would like to attend, please register via the WebEx registration link provided in the September 12, 2023 posting on this webpage.

October 12, 2023

CMS LCDS Version 5.1

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is publishing the Long-Term Care Hospital CARE Data Set (LCDS) Version 5.1. The LCDS Version 5.1 will be effective October 1, 2024.

The LCDS Version 5.1 item set can be accessed via the Downloads section of the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LCDS) & LCDS Manual webpage.

October 2, 2023

Notice of Upcoming LTCH QRP Measure Removals

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is alerting Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) providers of upcoming measure removals from the LTCH Quality Reporting Program (QRP). The following quality measures are planned for removal from the iQIES Review and Correct Reports, Facility-Level Quality Measure (QM) Reports, and Patient-Level QM Reports in January 2024:

  • Percent of Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Patients with an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan That Addresses Function
  • Application of Percent of Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Patients with an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan That Addresses Function

Once removed from reports, users will no longer have access to any data or measure results for these measures.

These measures will last appear in the March 2024 Provider Preview Reports for the June 2024 Refresh of LTCH QRP data. Starting with the September 2024 Release, these measures will be removed from Care Compare and Provider Data Catalog. Once removed, the historic publicly reported measure data will continue to be available in the Long-Term Care Hospitals Data Archive files on the Provider Data Catalog.

Please direct any questions on these measure removals or questions related to quality measures on the LTCH QRP Reports to the LTCH QRP help desk at LTCHQualityQuestions@cms.hhs.gov.

LTCH Quality Reporting Program Archives

Page Last Modified:
03/15/2024 11:43 AM