LeadingAge recently pointed out technical barriers to skilled nursing facilities’ compliance with quality reporting required under the IMPACT Act and requested a meeting with the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to discuss solutions that would improve their ability to comply. 

LeadingAge based its comments to CMS on an analysis of common compliance issues among its member nursing homes who received Quality Reporting Program noncompliance notification letters that resulted in a 2 percent reduction in their Medicare rates. 

In its communication with CMS, LeadingAge said monthly or quarterly reports on their reporting percentages would enable skilled nursing facilities to identify problems and take corrective action at an earlier stage of the reporting process. LeadingAge also recommended that CMS explore more efficient mechanisms for necessary documentation to be transmitted. 

LeadingAge will continue to work with CMS to resolve these and other issues with the new reporting process to ensure that CMS is able to collect complete and accurate data and that nursing homes doing their best to comply with the reporting requirement can avoid penalties.