CMS QRDA Pre-Submission Validation Tools Guide

*PSVA is being retired summer 2020. PSVA did not include troubleshooting functionality that will be available in the test portion of the HQR System, such as checking for valid submission period dates and providing measure outcome information. Submitters will be able to perform all functions for validation of QRDA Category I files in the test portion of the HQR System and receive more succinct and informative feedback. Users will have simultaneous access to the test and production portions of the HQR System in fall 2020 as they prepare for production QRDA Category I file submissions for eCQM reporting to the Hospital IQR and Promoting Interoperability Programs.

A pdf of the table is available.

Topic	Cypress QRDA Validation Utility	CMS Data Receiving System, within the QualityNet Secure Portal
Quick Check	ü Eligible Clinicians/Eligible Professionals (EPs) ü Eligible Hospitals (EHs) ü Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category I ü QRDA Category III	ü Eligible Hospitals ü QRDA Category I
Tool Description	A development tool for Health information technology (IT) vendors who are testing synthetic QRDA Category I and Category III documents for conformance to the base Health Level Seven International (HL7) QRDA standard and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) submission requirements. Validates files against the base HL7 Implementation Guide (IG), or for the EH or the EP/Eligible Clinician constraints as specified in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 CMS QRDA Category I and QRDA Category III IGs.	CMS data receiving system used by EHs and critical access hospitals (CAHs) that are reporting eCQMs under the Medicare Promoting Interoperability or the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program. CMS notifies users when the receiving system is available to accept test and production QRDA Category I files. The CMS data receiving system performs the same validation and measure calculations for test files and production files, although only production files are submitted to meet program data submission requirements. Note: eCQM files submitted to the test system will not be reviewed or evaluated for IQR Program or Promoting Interoperability credit.
How to Access	Accessible to anyone at https://cypressvalidator.healthit.gov/	Users must login to the QualityNet Secure Portal with valid user credentials to access the Secure File Transfer link. Users can then select the folders DataUpload > testdata > ehrqrda to submit test files into the CMS Receiving System.
HL7 QRDA Version	Supports QRDA Category I R3, R3.1 and R4. Supports QRDA Category III R1, R1.1, and R2.1.	Currently validates QRDA Category I R3
Accepts PHI	https://cypressvalidator.healthit.gov/ does not accept personally identifiable information (PHI)/ protected health information (PII). A downloadable version of the Cypress Validation Utility is available by itself or with Cypress v3.	The system can accept PII or PHI in files submitted.
CMS Programs Supported	Promoting Interoperability programs	HQR-EHR submissions for Promoting Interoperability and IQR programs.
Interface with CMS	None	This is the official CMS submission system and is completely integrated into the CMS infrastructure. All files that pass test submissions validation will pass production submission validation.
Validates CMS Rules	Yes, for EP/Eligible Clinician and EH submissions based on CMS’s 2016, 2017, and 2018 QRDA Category I and QRDA Category III IGs. However, it does not perform all validations that occur on the official CMS systems. Cypress does not perform the following CMS required validations: * Authorized CMS Certification Numbers (CCNs) * Specific checks for Clinical Data Abstraction Center (CDAC) users	Yes, beginning with the HQR 10.0, the system validates HQR test submissions based on CMS 2018 Combined IG.
Operating Environment	Hosted on a public server maintained by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality. Amazon Machine Image (AMI) and Virtual Machine (VM) available for download as standalone or alongside Cypress certification tool.	Runs on the CMS Hospital Quality Reporting site (accessed via www.Qualitynet.org). This is a secure environment running in the CMS Data Center. No tools are necessary other than a standard PC with a supported web browser.
File Upload Process	Upload one file at a time to the Cypress Validation Utility.	Drag and drop to upload file within the Hospital Reporting File Submission Process.
Number of Files Validated	The uploaded file is either a zip file containing multiple files or a single XML file.	Files or zipped files. A single batch may contain up to 15,000 files.
eCQM Calculations	Displays results of eCQMs included in uploaded QRDA document.	Yes
Error Reporting	Displays all error messages on the screen found for the entire file; identifies QRDA statements in error. Does not store the file nor the validation results for future retrieval.	Generates a report with all error messages found in the entire file; reports accessible from QualityNet following successful processing of files within batches.
Stored Results	Does not store the file nor the validation results for future retrieval.	All files from submissions are stored indefinitely. They can be retrieved at any time via a variety of reports available within the QualityNet Secure Portal
Other features	None	Test submissions through the CMS QualityNet Secure Portal are identical to the production submissions in terms of validation and measure calculation. A vendor or provider will know exactly what the production results will be for a QRDA by using the test submission feature in the secure portal.
Other Comments	None	The CMS QualityNet Secure Portal is a shared submission system, and all files are processed in a first come, first serve queue. A time delay in having results available in reports can be impacted by the volume of submissions occurring at a given time.
Next Release/ Update	Updated Annually: generally 1-2 months after new CMS QRDA IG published in July. Support for the 2018 CMS QRDA Category I IG was added on July 27, 2017. Support for the 2018 CMS QRDA Category III IG was added on December 14, 2017. Support for the 2019 CMS IGs are targeted for summer 2018.	The CMS receiving system is typically updated in the spring to receive the most current version of QRDA Category I files based on the CMS QRDA IG and Schematrons published on the eCQI Resource Center.
Support Contact	QualityNet Help Desk: 866-288-8912 (TTY 877-715-6222) 7:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m. CST M-F or qnetsupport@hcqis.org You will be asked to provide basic information such as name, practice, address, phone, and e-mail.