(a) Participation in the LTCH QRP. A long-term-care hospital must begin submitting data on measures specified under sections 1886(m)(5)(D), 1899B(c)(1), and 1899B(d)(1) of the Act, and standardized patient assessment data required under section 1899B(b)(1) of the Act, under the LTCH QRP by no later than the first day of the calendar quarter subsequent to 30 days after the date on its CMS Certification Number (CCN) notification letter.

(b) Data submission requirements and payment impact.

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, a long-term care hospital must submit to CMS data on measures specified under sections 1886(m)(5)(D), 1899B(c)(1) and 1899B(d)(1) of the Act, and standardized patient assessment data required under section 1899B(b)(1) of the Act. Such data must be submitted in a form and manner, and at a time, specified by CMS.

(2) A long-term care hospital that does not submit data in accordance with sections 1886(m)(5)(C) and 1886(m)(5)(F) of the Act with respect to a given fiscal year will have its annual update to the standard Federal rate for discharges for the long-term care hospital during the fiscal year reduced by 2 percentage points.

(3) CMS may remove a quality measure from the LTCH QRP based on one or more of the following factors:

(i) Measure performance among long-term care hospitals is so high and unvarying that meaningful distinctions in improvements in performance can no longer be made.

(ii) Performance or improvement on a measure does not result in better patient outcomes.

(iii) A measure does not align with current clinical guidelines or practice.

(iv) The availability of a more broadly applicable (across settings, populations, or conditions) measure for the particular topic.

(v) The availability of a measure that is more proximal in time to desired patient outcomes for the particular topic.

(vi) The availability of a measure that is more strongly associated with desired patient outcomes for the particular topic.

(vii) Collection or public reporting of a measure leads to negative unintended consequences other than patient harm.

(viii) The costs associated with a measure outweigh the benefit of its continued use in the program.

(c) Exception and extension request requirements. Upon request by a long-term care hospital, CMS may grant an exception or extension with respect to the measures data and standardized patient assessment data reporting requirements, for one or more quarters, in the event of certain extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the long-term care hospital, subject to the following:

(1) A long-term care hospital that wishes to request an exception or extension with respect to measures data and standardized patient assessment data reporting requirements must submit its request to CMS within 90 days of the date that the extraordinary circumstances occurred.

(2) A long-term care hospital must submit its request for an exception or extension to CMS via email. Email is the only form that may be used to submit to CMS a request for an exception or an extension.

(3) The email request for an exception or extension must contain the following information:

(i) The CCN for the long-term care hospital.

(ii) The business name of the long-term care hospital.

(iii) The business address of the long-term care hospital.

(iv) Contact information for the long-term care hospital's chief executive officer or designated personnel, including the name, telephone number, title, email address, and physical mailing address. (The mailing address may not be a post office box.)

(v) A statement of the reason for the request for the exception or extension.

(vi) Evidence of the impact of the extraordinary circumstances, including, but not limited to, photographs, newspaper articles, and other media.

(vii) The date on which the long-term care hospital will be able to again submit measures data and standardized patient assessment data under the LTCH QRP and a justification for the proposed date.

(4) CMS may grant an exception or extension to a long-term care hospital that has not been requested by the long-term care hospital if CMS determines that—

(i) An extraordinary circumstance affects an entire region or locale; or

(ii) A systemic problem with one of CMS' data collection systems directly affected the ability of the long-term care hospital to submit measures data and standardized patient assessment data.

(d) Reconsiderations of noncompliance decisions— (1) Written letter of non-compliance decision. Long-term care hospitals that do not meet the requirement in paragraph (b) of this section for a program year will receive a notification of non-compliance sent through at least one of the following methods: The CMS designated data submission system, the United States Postal Service, or via an email from the MAC.

(2) Request for reconsideration of noncompliance decision. A long-term care hospital may request a reconsideration of CMS' decision of noncompliance no later than 30 calendar days from the date of the written notification of noncompliance. The reconsideration request by the long-term care hospital must be submitted to CMS via email and must contain the following information:

(i) The CCN for the long-term care hospital.

(ii) The business name of the long-term care hospital.

(iii) The business address of the long-term care hospital.

(iv) Contact information for the long-term care hospital's chief executive officer or designated personnel, including each individual's name, title, email address, telephone number, and physical mailing address. (The physical address may not be a post office box.)

(v) CMS's identified reason(s) for the noncompliance decision from the written notification of noncompliance.

(vi) The reason for requesting reconsideration of CMS' noncompliance decision.

(vii) Accompanying documentation that demonstrates compliance of the long-term care hospital with the LTCH QRP requirements. This documentation must be submitted electronically at the same time as the reconsideration request as an attachment to the email.

(3) CMS decision on reconsideration request. CMS will notify long-term care hospitals, in writing, of its final decision regarding any reconsideration request through at least one of the following methods: The CMS designated data submission system, the United States Postal Service, or via an email from the MAC.

(e) Appeals of reconsideration requests. A long-term care hospital that is dissatisfied with a decision made by CMS on its reconsideration request may file an appeal with the Provider Reimbursement Review Board under part 405, subpart R, of this chapter.

(f) Data completion thresholds.

(1) Long-term care hospitals must meet or exceed two separate data completeness thresholds: One threshold set at 80 percent for completion of measures data and standardized patient assessment data collected using the LTCH CARE Data Set submitted through the CMS designated data submission system; and a second threshold set at 100 percent for measures data collected and submitted using the CDC NHSN.

(2) The thresholds in paragraph (f)(1) of this section apply to all data that must be submitted under paragraph (b) of this section.

(3) A long-term care hospital must meet or exceed both thresholds in paragraph (f)(1) of this section to avoid receiving a 2 percentage point reduction to its annual payment update for a given fiscal year, beginning with the FY 2019 LTCH QRP.

[80 FR 49769, Aug. 17, 2015, as amended at 81 FR 57270, Aug. 22, 2016; 82 FR 38513, Aug. 14, 2017; 83 FR 41705, Aug. 17, 2018; 84 FR 42615, Aug. 16, 2019]