CMS recently proposed a new standard requiring hospitals, including critical access hospitals, to electronically report information about COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and hospital bed capacity in a standardized format and frequency specified by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This proposed requirement aims to strike a balance between the need for critical data to inform decision-making while not making these data overly burdensome to report.
This proposed requirement is currently open for public comment: Federal Register: Public Inspection: Medicare and Medicaid Programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program: Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System, etc.