Aug 01, 2019
In March 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began delivering a series of enhancements to the Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (QIES). The upgraded system, called the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES), is an Internet facing, cloud-based system that is more reliable, intuitive, secure, and accessible. iQIES will be rolled out to post-acute care providers using a phased approach that began with Long Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs), to be followed by Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) in October 2019. Home Health Agencies (HHAs) will be able to receive access to iQIES starting in August 2019 as part of the upcoming release on January 1, 2020.
In January 2020, HHAs will have access to a new patient assessment upload and reporting interface that will replace the current Assessment Submission & Processing (ASAP) and the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) submission and reporting systems. This release will also include the ability for HHA providers and vendors to create assessments in iQIES, replacing the jHAVEN user tool. In addition, this release will include survey and certification functionality for HHAs.
What to Expect/Future Communications
For additional information about the release of iQIES for HHAs, the following communications will be made available in coming weeks and in the next several months:
- iQIES Provider Security Official Request Letter – Instructions on how your organization can assign a “Provider Security Official” and begin the account creation process. A Provider Security Official will need to obtain this access in iQIES in order to approve access requests for your organization. We expect to start onboarding HHA Security officials in August 2019; onboarding for HHAs will continue for several months and will follow a schedule according to your organization’s state (details will be included in these instructions, to be sent in coming weeks).
- iQIES Training Video Announcement – Resources for how to navigate the iQIES system and how to utilize the improved functionality.
- iQIES XML Upload/Assessment Tool Release Announcement- Announcement of January 1, 2020 Go-Live date for HHAs
- iQIES FAQs – Frequently asked questions that will be updated periodically based on end-user feedback to improve the overall experience.
***Although onboarding for HHAs will begin in August, iQIES assessment submission functionality will not be available until January 1, 2020. Although this functionality will not be available immediately, we encourage HHA security officials to request access to iQIES as soon as onboarding for your organization’s state has begun. Upon receiving access, security officials will have access to ‘My Profile’ and ‘Help’ in iQIES.
For More Information:
Visit the http://qtso.cms.gov website, or contact our service desk at: iqies@cms.hhs.gov or by phone: 800-339-9313 with any questions.