The Weekly Quality Brief: Hospital Harm eCQM Clarifications, Star Rating Safety Caps, and CMS Reporting Timelines (March 19, 2026)
The Weekly Quality Brief
In this episode of The Weekly Quality Brief, Erin Heilman and Kristen Beatson answer questions from healthcare quality professionals about hospital harm eCQMs, Star Ratings methodology, and CMS reporting timelines. They review differences between claims-based PSI measures and hospital harm eCQMs, including how postoperative respiratory failure is defined using clinical documentation rather than fixed durations. The discussion also covers how falls with injury are defined using value sets and how the Information Transfer Pro-PM measure cohort differs from OAS CAHPS.
The hosts also address several Star Ratings questions, including why score ranges can overlap due to the Safety of Care cap and how performance trending is used alongside CMS’s snapshot approach. Additional topics include how hospitals should prepare for CMS data preview periods, how quarterly Care Compare releases are structured, and who is responsible for reviewing annual eCQM code set updates. The episode concludes with clarification on measure inclusion in the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program, including confirmation that readmission measures are not included.
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