Visit the CMS eCQM Library and the eCQI Resource Center to Access the 2017 CMS HQR QRDA Implementation Guide, Schematrons, and Sample File

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published the 2017 CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) Implementation Guide (IG), Schematrons, and sample file.

The 2017 IG provides technical instructions for QRDA Category I reporting for the:

• The Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program


• The Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program

Changes Included in the 2017 IG

The 2017 IG contains the following high-level changes related to the HQR reporting programs from the 2016 CMS QRDA Implementation Guide that pertains to HQR reporting:

• The constraints for documentationOf/serviceEvent are updated to reflect HQR specific requirements for TIN and NPI clarity.


• Added Section 5.3 that contains additional HQR specific validations for QRDA I.


• CMS Certification Number is now required for the Hospital IQR and EHR Incentive Programs.

The 2017 IG provides the following additional changes that affect Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs):

• The base standard for QRDA I reporting is updated to the HL7 QRDA Category I, DSTU Release 3.1 (April, 2016), instead of the HL7 QRDA Category I, DSTU Release 3. The QRDA Category I, R3.1 has incorporated updates to align with the updates made to the Quality Data Model v4.2 and C-CDA Release 2.1.


• Sections 9 and 10 contain the updated change logs for IG changes to Base Standard and CMS IG changes from 2016 to 2017.


• A Coordinated Universal Time (UTC time) offset should not be used anywhere in a QRDA I file or, if a UTC offset is needed anywhere, it must be specified everywhere a time field is provided.

Note: The CMS QRDA Category I and QRDA Category III implementation guidance for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and the CMS QRDA Category III implementation guidance for CPC Plus (CPC +) are not included in this 2017 CMS HQR QRDA IG, and will be released at a later date.

For More Information

Current and past QRDA Implementation Guides, Schematrons, and sample files are available in the CMS eCQM Library and the eCQI Resource Center.