Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services considers dropping some quality measures

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to modify several hospital quality measures and remove four others, including those focused on health equity and social drivers of health.

The agency outlined the changes on 11 April as part of its 2026 proposed rule for the Medicare payment systems that cover inpatient and long-term care hospitals. 

The agency has proposed modifying these current quality measures:

• Total hip arthroplasty/Total knee arthroplasty complication rate and 30-day stroke mortality rate.
• Hybrid, hospital-wide readmission and mortality measures.

CMS is also proposing to remove four measures from the IQR programme:

• Hospital commitment to health equity 
• COVID-19 vaccination coverage among healthcare personnel
• Screening for social drivers of health
• Screen positive rate for social drivers of health

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Source: Becker's Clinical Leadership, 14 April 2025