The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs to the following providers located in areas affected by Hurricane Maria, due to the devastating impact of the storm:
- inpatient psychiatric facilities,
- skilled nursing facilities,
- home health agencies,
- hospices,
- inpatient rehabilitation facilities,
- renal dialysis facilities, and
- ambulatory surgical centers
These providers will be granted exceptions without having to submit an Extraordinary Circumstances Exceptions (ECE) request if they are located in one of the Puerto Rico municipios or U.S. Virgin Islands county-equivalents listed below, all of which have been designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a major disaster municipio or county-equivalent.
The scope and duration of the exception under each Medicare quality reporting program is described in the memo posted on 9-25-17; however, all of the exceptions are being granted to assist these providers while they direct their resources toward caring for their patients and repairing structural damages to facilities.
CMS will continue to monitor the situation and adjust exempted reporting periods and submission deadlines accordingly.
Additional details and materials are available on the CMS Hurricane page webpage.
For further information about extensions and exemptions for PAC QRPs, view the program-specific webpages:
Home Health Quality Reporting Requirements
Hospice Quality Reporting Extensions and Exemption Requests
IRF Quality Reporting Reconsideration and Exception & Extension
SNF Quality Reporting Reconsideration and Exception & Extension
