[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 5, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 306-307]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-29169]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services


Development of Computed Tomography (CT) Image Quality and Safety 
Hospital Measures

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Through this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), the Centers 
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Center for Clinical Standards 
and Quality, seeks an application for a single source, cooperative 
agreement, to develop a radiology electronic clinical quality 
measure(s) (eCQM) for the following CMS hospital programs: Hospital 
Inpatient Quality Reporting Program (IQR); Hospital Outpatient Quality 
Reporting Program (OQR); and Promoting Interoperability Program for 
Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals--formerly Meaningful 
Use (PI). CMS will provide support to the awardee in their planning, 
technical assistance, and reporting needs related to submission of a 
fully developed and tested radiology measures to the 2021 Measures 
Under Consideration (MUC) List in May 2021.

DATES: This notice of funding opportunity took effect on December 24, 
2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janis Grady, (410) 786 -7217, for 
programmatic questions or concerns.
    Monica Anderson, (410) 786-2988, for administrative and compliance 
concerns.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Within the broader context of quality measure use and development, 
CMS engages in extensive ongoing measure development, quality 
reporting, and other measure-related activities. In particular, CMS 
works with measure developers to produce measures for use in CMS 
quality reporting and value-based payment programs. However, CMS 
recognizes the benefits of measure

[[Page 307]]

development by external stakeholders with quality measure development 
expertise such as clinical specialty societies, clinical professional 
organizations, patient advocacy organizations, educational 
institutions, independent research organizations, health systems, and 
other entities engaged in quality measure development, and is therefore 
providing this Notice of Funding Opportunity. The CMS Meaningful 
Measurement framework https://www.cms.gov/meaningful-measures-20-moving-measure-reduction-modernization guides CMS's quality measures 
work.

II. Provisions of the Notice

    For this NOFO, CMS will accept an application specifically and only 
for development of radiology electronic clinical quality measures 
(eCQM) that fill an existing gap or need and are high impact. Pending 
an acceptable application and budget, the CCSQ/Quality Measurement & 
Value-Based Incentives Group (QMVIG)/Division of Quality Measurement 
(DQM) Program Team recommends awarding a single source award to Alara 
Imaging who is uniquely qualified to complete the work requested. Alara 
Imaging has specific expertise with CMS in development of radiology 
measure(s) requested, can provide the proprietary software needed to 
capture imaging data, and has the ability to transfer those data to 
CMS. In addition, Alara would serve as the measure steward responsible 
for guiding the measure through NQF endorsement and the CMS regulatory 
process.

III. Collection of Information Requirements

    This document does not impose information collection requirements, 
that is, reporting, recordkeeping or third-party disclosure 
requirements. Consequently, there is no need for review by the Office 
of Management and Budget under the authority of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

    Authority: Programmatic Authority of the Social Security Act, 
Titles XI, XVIII, XIX, XXI.
    The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 
(CMS), Seema Verma, having reviewed and approved this document, 
authorizes Lynette Wilson, who is the Federal Register Liaison, to 
electronically sign this document for purposes of publication in the 
Federal Register.

    Dated: December 30, 2020.
Lynette Wilson,
Federal Liaison, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
[FR Doc. 2020-29169 Filed 1-4-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P