The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will provide training for ESRD QIP 1.0.0 Facility Users and Facility Viewers on July 20, and August 3. 

The new system, referred to as ESRD QIP 1.0.0, will replace the DialysisReports.org ESRD QIP Interface that was discontinued earlier this year. Dialysis facilities will need the information provided in this training in order to review the data that CMS will use to evaluate performance as a part of the Payment Year (PY) 2016 program.

Different sessions will be presented by the National Renal Administrators Association (NRAA), the End-Stage Renal Disease National Coordinating Center (ESRD NCC), and the CMS Medicare Learning Network (MLN).  Training for LDO Users will be added later.  Learn more about this training, as well as user accounts for ESRD QIP 1.0.0.  View background information on QIP 1.0.0.

A preliminary PY 2016 Performance Score Report (PSR) is now available for ESRD facilities. Find out how to access, review, and submit a formal inquiry about your report by the August 15 deadline. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.

Facility Responsibilities

• Establish your QIMS account to access QualityNet.org and ESRD QIP 1.0.0
• Facilities and Networks can access their Preview PSRs beginning July 15. Recommendation: Submit clarification questions by August 1 to receive a prompt response and to have enough time to submit a formal inquiry if necessary
• If you believe there is an error in your score, submit a single formal inquiry If you are contacted for follow-up information, respond in a timely manner so that your inquiry can be given due consideration
• Preview Period ends August 17 at 5:00 p.m. (EDT)
• Download, print, and post your English and Spanish PSCs within 15 business days of their availability via the ESRD QIP system
• Educate your staff about the ESRD QIP so they can answer patient questions about the publicly posted certificate

Key ESRD QIP Dates to Remember

• PY 2015 payment reductions applied (January 1 -December 31, 2015)
• PY 2016 Preview Period (July 15 -August 17, 2015)
• PY 2017 Performance Period (January 1 -December 31, 2015)
• PY 2019 Rulemaking Proposed rule published (displayed June 26, 2015)
• 60-day comment period (ends August 25, 2015)
• Final rule published (November 2015)
• PY 2016 PSC available for download mid-December 2015; post within 15 business days

PY 2016 payment reductions are effective January 1, 2016.

The Federal Register is scheduled to publish the proposed rule here.

Comment Period:  To be assured consideration, comments must be received no later than 5 p.m. EST on August 25.  Learn more about the specifics for submission of comments.

QIRN 4 will host the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) presentation of the HCP Influenza Vaccination Webinar on August 4th and 5th.  Please plan to attend on August 4th OR August 5th.

Attention:  Reporting for this measure begins October 1st for all health care personnel for ALL dialysis modalities. These webinars will provide details on the implementation of this measure and reporting to NHSN.  Any meeting materials will be forwarded prior to the Webex.

The WebEx and dial-in information for both presentations is below.

Event Name:  HCP Influenza Vaccination Webinar
Event Time:   3:00-4:00pm ET
OR
Event Date    August 5, 2015
Event Time:   12:00-1:00pm ET

Please join the event 15 minutes prior to the start time to ensure the automatic system set-up has been properly established.
 
Attendee Instructions:

1. Click or Copy and Paste this URL to your web browser:  https://qualitynet.webex.com
2. This should bring you to the QualityNet e-University webpage. Locate the event you wish to join and click "Join" (located to the right of the event title)
3. Enter your name and email address as prompted
4. Enter the password: Qirn4
5. The automatic system set-up should start at this point. If a dialogue box appears, click run. Please note, the automatic system set-up does take a few minutes to complete
6. Dial in to the teleconference. The number is 866-951-1151. The access code is 2088872.

If you have any questions or problems accessing the web portion of this meeting, please call the General Dynamics Information Technology WebEx Helpline at 540-347-7400 x390.

How to Count Vascular Accesses
If a patient has more than one vascular access, count that patient only once, by the highest risk vascular access present, even if that vascular access is not used for dialysis or is abandoned/non-functional. Learn more in News from the NHSN Help Desk.


Working Days Calendar
Check out the Working Days Calendar featured in News from the NHSN Help Desk to understand how to identify the first two working days of the month for facilities that provide nocturnal hemodialysis.


How to Address Data Quality Concerns Raised by Your Network
The Network reviews NHSN data monthly and identifies outliers or unusual trends in data related to the census, vascular access, dialysis event rates and positive blood culture rates.  Once this data review is complete, QIRN 4 calls the facilities with identified outliers to validate the accuracy of this data.  If inaccuracies are identified, then the conversation turns to identifying the root cause of the error; such as educational opportunity, manual entry error, batching error, etc.  The goal is to make corrections to NHSN, if needed, and address the root cause(s) to prevent future errors.  QIRN 4 would like to thank all of the facilities that have already participated in a data validation call for their responsiveness to our inquiries.  Please read the Dialysis NHSN Newsblast for more information.

CMS hosted an MLN Connects® National Provider Call on the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Incentive Program (QIP), a pay-for-performance initiative that ties a facility's quality scores to a payment percentage reduction over the course of a Payment Year (PY) on July 9th.  View the presentation.