Jun 03, 2019
In March 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began a series of Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (QIES) enhancements, starting with the upgrade of the Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Assessment Submission and Processing (ASAP) system. The enhancements to the system for LTCHs is the first of multiple releases, resulting in what is now called the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES). These updates aim to reduce provider burden and enhance CMS’s ability to serve our customers.
The release scheduled for October 1, 2019, will include the enhanced Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) patient assessment upload functionality as well as an optional patient assessment user tool that will allow for direct assessment submission to iQIES. This tool will replace jIRVEN and may be used by IRFs as an option to vendor software currently being used to submit assessments. Because iQIES is an Internet facing, cloud based system, it will be more reliable, intuitive, secure, and accessible.
What to Expect/Future Communications
For additional information about the release of iQIES for IRFs, the following communications will be made available in the coming weeks and in subsequent months:
• iQIES Provider Security Official Request Letter – Instructions on how your organization can assign a “Provider Security Official” and begin the account creation process. We expect to start onboarding IRF Security officials in June 2019.*
• 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 October 1st Go-Live date for IRFs
• iQIES FAQs – Frequently asked questions that will be updated periodically based on end-user feedback to improve the overall experience.
*Although onboarding for IRFs will commence in June, iQIES assessment submission functionality will not be available until October 1, 2019.
Please contact our service desk at: iqies@cms.hhs.gov or by phone: 800-339-9313 with any questions.