Check Your IRF Provider Preview Reports by July 10

July 1, 2019

Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) Provider Preview Reports have been updated and are now available on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website.  The data contained within the Preview Reports is based on quality data submitted by IRFs between Quarter 4 – 2017 and Quarter 3 – 2018 and reflects what will be published on IRF Compare during the September 2019 refresh of the website. Providers have until July 10, 2019 to review their performance data. Corrections to the underlying data will not be permitted during this time; however, providers can request CMS review of their data during the preview period if they believe the quality measure scores that are displayed within their Preview Reports are inaccurate. 

Beginning with the September 2019 refresh, CMS will publicly display measure results on the IRF Compare website for the following two measures: the Potentially Preventable 30-Day Post-Discharge Readmissions and Potentially Preventable Within-Stay Readmissions measures adopted for the IRF Quality Reporting Program (QRP). CMS postponed publishing these measures in late 2018 to allow more testing to ensure they provide a reliable, accurate picture of provider performance on quality, in line with CMS’s Meaningful Measures Initiative to address high-priority areas for quality measurement with measures that will help improve patient outcomes while minimizing provider burden. CMS has since completed this additional testing and have refined the method for assigning providers to performance categories, in which their performance level is compared to the national rate. IRF performance data for these measures will be included for the first time on this preview report.

CMS is additionally previewing the Discharge to Community (DTC) measure for the first time, using updated methodology for assigning categorical ratings to each provider based on their performance on this measure (better than, same as, or worse than the national average).

For more information on:

• The IRF data referenced in the above messaging, view the IRF Quality Public Reporting webpage, IRF Compare, and/or Preview Report Access Instructions
• Potentially Preventable Readmissions measures, view the related Fact Sheet and Q & A documents on the IRF QRP Public Reporting webpage, under the Downloads section.
• The newly updated methodology used to assign categorical ratings to providers with respect to their performance on the DTC measure, as referenced above, view the related Fact Sheet and Q & A documents on the IRF QRP Public Reporting webpage, under the Downloads section.