eCQI Tools & Key Resources

The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP)/Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Project Tracking System uses Jira, a project management and issue-tracking platform developed by Atlassian.

This system provides a centralized and transparent platform for users to log, track, and discuss issues with subject matter experts across a broad range of topics related to electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) and digital quality measures (dQMs). CMS uses the system throughout the development, implementation, and maintenance stages of the measure lifecycle.

A 90-day account deactivation policy is enforced for users who have not logged into the system for 90 consecutive days or longer.

The value set Binding Parameter Specification (BPS) is generated by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) as part of the Value Set Authority Center’s (VSAC) Downloadable Resources. The BPS details the usage of value sets by electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), the binding of value sets to Quality Data Model (QDM) categories, and the value sets object identifiers (OIDs) used to create grouping value sets. It also lists other select value set metadata, allowing eCQM implementers and vendors to use the BPS to track versions and other parameters of the value sets for each eCQM release. Users can access the BPS metadata file for any released set of CMS eCQM value set files through the NLM's VSAC Downloadable Resources. Access requires a free Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) license.

Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Connect is a freely available web-based platform, including an authoring tool and a repository, enabling the CDS community to identify evidence-based care, translate and codify information into an interoperable health information technology standard, and leverage tooling to promote a collaborative model of CDS development.

*Note: On April 28th, 2025, AHRQ’s CDS Connect went offline. An updated, likely final version of its authoring tool has been developed by the HL7® community as CDS Connect Community Edition. A newer set of tools, the open source CQL Studio, is an integrated web application suite for developing, testing, and publication of CQL- and FHIR-based artifacts that can be developed into computable guidelines, CDS, or dQMs, providing a functional superset of capabilities.

Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Hooks is a specification developed by Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) and managed by its CDS Work Group. It enables near real-time decision support to be integrated directly into a clinician’s electronic health record workflow.

When a specified event occurs within the clinician’s workflow, it triggers a CDS service. The service then securely retrieves the necessary data elements using HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) services. By leveraging FHIR standards, CDS Hooks supports interoperability among stakeholders operating across different systems and platforms.

The Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL) is an authoritative list of health IT products that have been tested and certified under the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Health IT Certification Program. Products listed on the CHPL are tested by an ONC-Authorized Testing Laboratory (ONC-ATL) and certified by an ONC-Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) to meet criteria adopted by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

For additional information on how to navigate the CHPL, please refer to the CHPL Public User Guide.

ClinFHIR is an open-source tool providing an educational environment and also allows health information technology developers to create or search for Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®)-based resources. It serves as a training tool to help people wanting to learn more about FHIR visualize how the parts combine to represent clinical information in a structured and coded manner. It also serves as a development tool with features to build some of the required artifacts, particularly as an aid to learning.

CMS Measures Inventory Tool (CMIT) is the repository of record for information about CMS quality measures. CMS and its partners use the inventory to inform stakeholders, manage its measure portfolio, and guide measure development. The functions allow users to find measures quickly, compile and refine sets of related measures, identify measures across the continuum of care, and help coordinate measurement efforts across all conditions, settings, and populations.

The CMS Measures Under Consideration Entry/Review Information Tool (CMS MERIT) is the web-based data collection portal allowing measure developers to submit candidate measures to CMS for consideration. The Tool walks the submitter through the process of providing information. Each submitter has a dashboard allowing them to track the progress of their submitted measure and to communicate with CMS through the comment function. The Tool also provides a view of all measures submitted for the current year. Another purpose of CMS MERIT is to give federal officials, the consensus-based entity multi-stakeholder groups, and other stakeholders more information as they review measures.

The CMS Measures Management System (MMS) Hub is a centralized website for quality‑measure guidance, tools, and engagement opportunities across the measure lifecycle from conceptualization, specification, testing, implementation, and ongoing maintenance.

The CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Implementation Guides (IGs) are technical documents that define the standards and specifications for reporting electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) using Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) QRDA. The guides provide detailed instructions for healthcare providers, health information technology (IT) vendors, and reporting organizations on how to format and submit eCQM data consistently and accurately.

The CMS QRDA Category I guide covers individual patient–level reports and is used by hospitals for quality reporting programs. The CMS QRDA Category III guide covers aggregate-level reports for groups of patients and is used by eligible clinicians for quality reporting programs.

The CMS Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Pre-Submission Validation Tools are software resources designed to help healthcare providers, health information technology (IT) vendors, and reporting organizations verify the accuracy and compliance of their electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) submissions before formally submitting them to CMS. By acting as a pre-submission check, these tools help ensure that eCQM QRDA files meet CMS standards, reducing errors, saving time, and supporting reliable quality reporting.

CMS-supported validation tools include:

• Cypress: Ensures accurate, standardized, and compliant eCQM reporting, reducing the risk of rejected submissions and improving data quality for CMS quality reporting programs. Cypress validates both QRDA Category I (patient-level) and Category III (aggregate-level) files for compliance.
• Hospital Quality Reporting System (HQR): Checks QRDA Category I (patient-level) files for adherence to CMS standards and Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) specifications. It provides reports and guidance to help hospitals identify and correct errors prior to submission.

The Clinical Quality Framework (CQF) is a joint effort by the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) and Clinical Quality Information Work Groups who develop standards and guidelines that allow healthcare organizations to reliably measure care quality electronically, ensuring consistency, interoperability, and actionable insights.

The Clinical Quality Framework (CQF) Ruler is a collection of plugins built for the HAPI Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) Java Persistence API (JPA) server that brings the FHIR Clinical Reasoning Module to life. It enables healthcare organizations and developers to process electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), evaluate decision logic, and apply clinical rules in real time. Beyond quality measurement, the CQF Ruler acts as a central repository for knowledge artifacts, such as care guidelines and decision support rules, and serves as a clinical decision support service that can provide actionable recommendations at the point of care. By combining measure processing, knowledge management, and decision support, the CQF Ruler helps make quality reporting and evidence-based care more efficient, consistent, and interoperable across FHIR-enabled systems. 

The Clinical Quality Language (CQL) Evaluation Engine is an open source Java-based evaluation engine capable of evaluating the result of any CQL expression. Note: this is a component in the CQL translator repository.

Clinical Quality Language (CQL) Execution Framework is the engine that runs the rules and expressions defined in CQL to evaluate electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), decision support logic, or other healthcare-related computations.

The Clinical Quality Language (CQL) Formatting and Usage Wiki is a collaborative workspace for the development of CQL formatting conventions and usage patterns for the representation of logic within quality measures. All users have editing rights, able to submit edits, add comments and concerns. Items on the Wiki are a work in progress and subject to change.

Clinical Quality Language (CQL) Runner is an online platform for ad hoc testing of CQL.

The CQL-to-ELM Translator is an open-source reference implementation that translates the high-level Clinical Quality Language (CQL) syntax into the Expression Logical Model (ELM) representation. The reference implementation is used in support of Clinical Quality Framework implementations as a tool to enable CQL output to be uniformly and automatically translated into ELM XML or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) documents for sharing and distribution to support implementation, integration, translation, and execution of CQL-based artifacts.

For more information or to get involved, visit the Clinical Quality Framework initiative page on the Health Level Seven International® website.

The CQMCommonQDM Library (formerly known as the Global Common Library) is a shared, standardized library of Clinical Quality Language (CQL) expressions built on the Quality Data Model (QDM).

It is used by electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) developers to:

• Reuse common logic across multiple measures
• Promote consistency and alignment in measure specifications
• Reduce duplication of code and logic
• Improve efficiency during measure development and maintenance

Instead of each eCQM defining similar logic independently), the CQMCommonQDM Library provides centralized, reusable CQL components that can be referenced across measures.

The CQMCommonQDM Library specifications can be found within the eCQMs section in the eCQM Resources tab for the specific program (e.g., Eligible Clinician eCQMs).

Crucible is a suite of open-source testing tools for Health Level Seven International® Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®). It helps the FHIR development community ensure correct FHIR implementations. Crucible can test for conformance to the FHIR standards, score patient records for completeness, generate synthetic patient data, and test SMART on FHIR applications.

Cypress, with the fully integrated Cypress Validation Utility + Calculation Check (CVU+), is an open source testing tool used by vendors to certify their electronic health records (EHRs) and health information technology (IT) modules for calculating electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs). Cypress is an official testing tool for the ONC Health IT EHR Certification Program. Testing involves Cypress generating synthetic patient records for the subset of published eCQMs selected for certification and testing the ability of the health IT modules to accurately record, import, calculate, filter, and report eCQMs.

The Cypress Tech Talks are an open forum for discussing technical implementation and tool issues with the Cypress support team.

The De Novo Measure Scan (DNMS) is an advanced feature of the Environmental Scan Support Tool (ESST) on the controlled access CMS Measures Inventory Tool (CMIT) site. You must have a CMIT login to access. The DNMS helps measure developers conduct early and frequent environmental scans while developing new measures. The DNMS uses a Clinical Quality Measure ontology to describe a measure and represent quality measure concepts. Components of the ontology include target population, health status or utilization, change concept, expected output of the change concept, and care setting. The DNMS uses structured search terms to represent the measure concepts to build a new measure and uses artificial intelligence to identify and prioritize the most relevant PubMed, PubMed Central, and CINAHL related literature.

The Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) Data Exchange for Quality Measures (DEQM) Implementation Guide (IG) provides standards for sharing healthcare quality information using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®). It defines how systems can exchange electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) data in a consistent and interoperable way. For example, it supports the electronic transfer of quality reporting data from healthcare providers to payers and other organizations.

The DEQM IG supports multiple reporting scenarios, including:

• Individual reporting (data for a single patient)
• Subject list reporting (lists of patients meeting certain criteria)
• Summary reporting (aggregate results for a provider or organization)
• Gaps in care reporting (identifying patients who may need recommended services)

The DEQM Individual MeasureReport profile is designed as a FHIR-based alternative to the Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Category I format for patient-level reporting. The DEQM Summary MeasureReport profile serves as a FHIR-based alternative to QRDA Category III for aggregate reporting.

The guide is maintained by HL7’s Clinical Quality Information (CQI) Work Group through an established standards development and balloting process. Updates are coordinated with related IGs, including the Quality Measure IG and the Quality Improvement Core (QI-Core) IG, to ensure alignment across quality measurement standards.

The Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI) Resource Center User Group is a volunteer forum for users of the eCQI Resource Center. Members use the site to access resources for the development, implementation, and reporting of electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs), as well as for education on key eCQI and eCQM concepts and standards. This Group meets quarterly on the third Tuesday of the month at 3:00 p.m. ET.

The electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) Annual Update Pre-publication Document outlines the versions of standards and code systems incorporated in the updated eCQMs for possible use in CMS programs during the reporting and performance period. It is intended to help health information technology (IT) and electronic health record (EHR) developers, eligible clinicians, and hospitals prepare for upcoming reporting year by providing a transparent, pre-release view of the anticipated standards and code system versions. The document is found on the eCQM Resources tab of the eCQM pages, example: https://ecqi.healthit.gov/eh-cah/ecqm-resources?globalyearfilter=2027&global_measure_group=3716

The Measure Collaboration (MC) Workspace Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQM) Concepts Module gives users the ability to create new suggested eCQM concepts and comment on other's suggested eCQM concepts.

CMS encourages all stakeholders, including patients and point of care clinicians, to participate.

The eCQM Data Element Repository (DERep) provides clarification, definitions, and clinical context for the data elements associated with electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) used in CMS quality reporting and incentive programs. This resource is designed to help implementers accurately interpret and apply eCQM data requirements within health IT systems. Users can filter information by data element, eCQM, Quality Data Model (QDM) attribute, QDM category, QDM datatype, or QDM entities.

The electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) Flows are flowcharts designed to assist in the interpretation of the eCQM logic and provide the calculation methodology to determine measure scores. These flows provide an overview of each of the population criteria components and associated data elements that lead to the inclusion, exclusion, or exception into the eCQM’s denominator and numerator, if applicable.

The eCQM flows are available for eligible clinician eCQMs, hospital-inpatient eCQMs, and hospital-outpatient eCQMs.

The Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM) Implementation Checklist assumes a health care practice/organization has determined which quality measures to report. The checklist provides the necessary technical steps health information technology developers, implementers, and health care organizations must take to update their systems and processes with the eCQM Annual Update for the upcoming reporting and performance periods. The most recent eCQM Annual Update should be applied to electronic health record systems for use in electronic quality reporting.

The Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM) Known Issues tracker provides implementation information for eCQMs with known technical issues for which a solution is under development but not yet available in a published eCQM specification. This includes discrepancies between eCQM narrative and logic, value sets, and/or technical, standard, or logic-related issues.

The electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) Logic and Implementation Guidance helps healthcare organizations and developers understand, implement and use eCQMs. It explains how to apply measure specifications, including data elements and coding, and shows how to provide feedback on eCQMs through the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy/Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC) Jira system.

The Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM) Testing Opportunities Module enables eCQM developers to announce testing opportunities within the eCQI Resource Center’s Measure Collaboration Workspace. This module allows developers to evaluate various aspects of eCQMs, including feasibility, reliability, validity, and usability. Interested parties wanting to participate in testing eCQMs should contact the eCQM developer directly.

The Environmental Scan Support Tool (ESST) is a tool within the CMS Measures Inventory Tool (CMIT) environment, intended to automate environmental scans required in the information gathering process to develop and maintain quality measures. The ESST uses an automated natural language processing approach that rapidly scans literature in PubMed, PubMed Central, and CINAHL to

• Identify relevant documents (abstracts and full-text articles)
• Identify and extract the specific knowledge within each relevant document that applies to the measure’s potential opportunity for improvement

The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. The Federal Register is published by the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration.

The Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) Implementation Guide (IG) Registry is a centralized repository or catalog that stores and organizes IGs, which are structured documents providing instructions for how to implement specific technical standards, usually in the context of healthcare interoperability. These guides often define how data should be formatted, exchanged, and interpreted to ensure systems can communicate consistently.

The Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) Terminology Service for Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) Resources is an online service that permits access to value sets and code systems. It works through a Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface (REST API), so it’s designed for people who are familiar with FHIR resources. Access requires a free Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) license.

The Guide for Reading electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) is a resource designed to help healthcare professionals, implementers, and developers understand how eCQMs are structured, calculated, and reported. eCQMs are standardized measures used to assess the quality of care provided to patients, using data from electronic health records (EHRs). In other words, it’s a “how-to manual” for understanding, implementing, and using electronic quality measures in clinical practice.

The Office of the National Coordinator for the Health Information Technology (ONC) Certification Program is a voluntary certification program established by ONC to provide for the certification of health information technology. The program ensures that Certified Health Technology meets the technological capability, functionality, and security requirements adopted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The ONC develops the functional and conformance testing requirements for the testing and certification criteria related to electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs).

This Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) Clinical Quality Language (CQL)-Health Quality Measure Format (HQMF) Implementation Guide (IG) defines an approach to using CQL with the Quality Data Model (QDM) and HQMF to define electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs). The IG describes the use of CQL to express the logic and the US Domain conceptual data model, QDM, to express the individual data types and their attributes for an eCQM detailed using the HQMF standard.

The Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) Quality Reporting Document Architecture Category I Implementation Guide (HL7 QRDA I IG) describes constraints on HL7's Clinical Document Architecture Release 2 (CDA R2) to create a QRDA I document. QRDA Category I is for reporting quality data at the individual patient level.

The Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) Quality Reporting Document Architecture Category III Implementation Guide (HL7 QRDA III IG) describes constraints on HL7's Clinical Document Architecture Release 2 (CDA R2) to create a QRDA III document. QRDA Category III is for reporting aggregated quality measure data and supports reporting for improvement activities and Promoting Interoperability measures.

The Quality Measure Implementation Guide (QM IG) is intended to provide guidance on the representation of quality measures including digital quality measures (dQMs) using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) Clinical Reasoning Module. It defines the required structure, metadata, terminology, definitions, and logic needed to author, package and evaluate dQMs in a consistent and computable way.

The Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) Secure Portal is a CMS-approved website for secure communications and health care quality data exchange between quality improvement organizations, hospitals, physician offices, nursing homes, end-stage renal disease networks and facilities, and data vendors. It provides secure data exchange to and within various CMS quality reporting programs, i.e. Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting, Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting, Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting, Prospective Payment System-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting, Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting, and the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program.  

For hospital quality reporting, users must create a Health Care Quality Information Systems (HCQIS) Access Roles and Profile (HARP) account to log into HQR. Submitters can navigate within the HQR system and perform tasks based on the program data that are submitted, such as data submissions, data results, program reporting, and administration. For information on registering for a HARP account and additional resources, visit the Registering for HARP page on QualityNet. Please contact the Centers for Clinical Standards and Quality (CCSQ) Service Center at (866) 299-8912 or QNetSupport@cms.hhs.gov for assistance.

Inferno is an open-source tool designed for creating, executing, and sharing automated conformance tests for the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) standard. Hosted on HealthIT.gov, Inferno offers a public service for running select FHIR conformance tests, including those relevant to the ONC Health IT Certification Program. It features the ONC Certification (g)(10) Standardized API Test Kit and tests for various FHIR Implementation Guides. Inferno provides flexible tools for testing systems for FHIR conformance, allowing users to run tests locally or integrate them into external tools and continuous integration pipelines.

The Interoperability Standards Advisory (ISA) process represents the model by which the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP) coordinates interoperability standards and implementation specifications for industry use to fulfill specific clinical health information technology interoperability needs. ASTP updates the ISA throughout the year to include improvements based on recommendations received from public comments and subject matter experts. These updates are published in an annual Reference Edition. To learn more about the ISA, please visit https://isp.healthit.gov/about-isa.

The Measure Authoring Development Integrated Environment (MADiE) is a software tool redefining the electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) development and testing process by making it a self-contained process including dynamic authoring and testing within a single application. MADiE allows eCQM developers to author eCQMs using Quality Improvement (QI)-Core, the Quality Data Model (QDM), Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® and to test and verify eCQM behavior. MADiE helps eCQM developers execute eCQM logic against the constructed test cases to provide users with information to evaluate if the eCQM logic aligns with the intent of the eCQM.

The Measure Authoring Development Integrated Environment (MADiE) User Group is an open forum to discuss the status of the tool and gather community and user feedback on planned enhancements and releases. The User Group is scheduled to meet on the third Thursday of every month. Individuals with active MADiE accounts will receive a monthly reminder email. Register for the MADiE User Group via the meeting registration page.

The Measure Collaboration (MC) Workspace is a web-based tool bringing together a set of interconnected resources, tools, and processes to promote transparency and better interaction across interested parties that develop, implement, and report electronic clinical quality measures.

The Measure Collaboration (MC) Workspace User Guide provides instructions for the use of each module in the MC Workspace.

The Measures Management System (MMS) is a standardized system for developing and maintaining the quality measures used in CMS’s various quality initiatives and programs. The primary goal of the MMS is to provide guidance to measure developers to help them produce high-caliber health care quality measures. A list of MMS Tools can be found on the CMS MMS Hub.

Pioneers in Quality™ is a collaborative Joint Commission program to improve health care quality and patient safety through education (e.g., webinars for continuing education units), innovation, and recognition of pioneering practices for Joint Commission interested parties. Started in 2016 to assist hospitals on their electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) journey to improve eCQM data use for quality improvement, Joint Commission has expanded the program over time to include educational topics related to quality measurement, data submission and use for quality improvement, as well as implementation of new and revised accreditation and certification standards.

Postman is a collaboration platform designed for developing and testing application programming interfaces (APIs). It serves as a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) client that allows users to test HTTP requests and receive various types of responses through an intuitive graphical user interface. Postman simplifies interactions with Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) servers, enabling users to post requests and updates efficiently. It is particularly useful for testing FHIR-based electronic clinical quality measures during Health Level Seven International® Connectathons.

Public comments ensure measures are developed and maintained using a transparent process with balanced input from relevant interested parties. Public comment periods provide an opportunity for the widest array of interested parties to provide input on the measures, both under development and in use, and can provide critical suggestions not previously considered by the measure developer or its Technical Expert Panel. Electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) public comments can be made in response to a new eCQM's call for comments, eCQMs in the pre-rulemaking and rulemaking process, eCQMs in testing, eCQMs undergoing updates, and updates to standards and tools used with eCQMs.

The Quality Data Implementation (QDI) User Group is a group of volunteer members who use the Quality Data Model (QDM) and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®)-related standards. The group seeks to understand data capture and use with respect to workflow in health information technology implementations such that measure requests for data are feasible and provide accurate, comprehensive, and reliable data for evaluation. The data model efforts support the electronic clinical quality improvement landscape and the evolving transition from the QDM to the FHIR model (Quality Improvement Core) for authoring electronic clinical quality measures and digital quality measures. The QDI User Group meets at 3:00 p.m. ET on the third Wednesday of every month.

The Quality Data Model (QDM) Known Issues provides identified issues relative to working with the QDM. Many of these issues originated as tickets in the ONC Project Tracking System (Jira) QDM Issue Tracker project and all were discussed by the Quality Data Implementation Group.

The Quality Data Model (QDM)-based CQL Style Guide provides standardized expressions of electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) concepts across eCQMs and defines a uniform “look and feel” to eCQM logic. The QDM-based CQL Style Guide focuses on a set of common best practices that have been implemented across QDM-based eCQMs in CMS quality reporting programs. The QDM-based CQL Style Guide also promotes the use of consistent language within the framework of Clinical Quality Language (CQL), including libraries, aliases, definitions, and functions, and provides guidance on other conventions, such as operator precedence. eCQM stewards or developers who are developing or specifying eCQMs for potential inclusion in CMS reporting programs should follow these best practices.

The Quality Payment Program (QPP) Developer Tools allow industry developers, who build software for participating clinicians, to integrate their software directly with CMS applications and data. Available tools include Submissions Application Programming Interface (API), Submissions Developer Preview environment, Measures, Activities, Benchmarks Repository, and Quality Reporting Document Architecture III Conversion Tool Open Source Package. These include documentation for reporting eCQMs. Additionally, there is developer documentation on the Eligibility API.

The Quality Payment Program (QPP) Resource Library is the one-stop shop for all QPP resources. It provides educational materials supporting clinicians’ participation in QPP. All QPP webinar resources, including slides, transcripts and recordings from recent presentations, can be found on the QPP Webinar Library. Measure specifications and benchmarks are located within the Full Resource Library section of the QPP Resource Library.

The Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) III Converter tool converts QRDA III files to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) JavaScript Object Notation format for QPP data submission. 

Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) Known Issues provide implementation information for QRDA Implementation Guides or supporting documents with known technical issues for which a solution is under development but may not be published. This includes issues such as discrepancies between conformance assertions and message text, non-critical conformance assertion errors, and typographical errors.

Established by CMS, QualityNet provides health care quality improvement news, resources, data reporting tools, and applications used by measured entities and others. QualityNet, the one-stop shop for CMS quality programs, provides information on quality data reporting programs associated with the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program and other hospital inpatient quality programs, including the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program, Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting Program, Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting Program, Prospective Payment System-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program, End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program, Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program. CMS encourages interested parties, advocates, and others to register for email notifications to receive information on enhancements and new releases, timelines, process or policy modifications, and alerts about applications and initiatives. The CMS Hospital Quality Reporting program notification and discussion lists are available for signup on QualityNet.

The Submission Tool and Repository (STAR) is a measure database of quality performance measures submitted to the CMS consensus-based entity (CBE) for endorsement review. The database includes historical data for measures submitted for endorsement and maintenance to date. The CMS CBE updates the STAR database regularly as the Partnership for Quality Measurement receives submissions for endorsement review for new and maintenance measures. 

Synthea™ is an open-source, synthetic patient generator that models the medical history of synthetic patients. It provides realistic, but not real, patient data and associated health records covering every aspect of health care. The resulting data is free from cost, privacy, and security restrictions, enabling research with health information technology data that is otherwise legally or practically unavailable.

Browse and download pre-generated synthetic records.

The Unified Medical Language System® (UMLS®) is a set of files and software bringing together health and biomedical vocabularies and standards to enable interoperability between computer systems. The UMLS integrates and distributes key terminology, classification and coding standards, and associated resources to promote creation of more effective and interoperable biomedical information systems and services, including electronic health records. Software developers can use UMLS to enhance or develop applications, such as electronic health records, classification tools, dictionaries and language translators. Use of UMLS allows end users to view codes, synonyms, and definitions used terminologies such as Common Procedural Terminology and International Classification of Diseases-10th Revision-Clinical Modification and relationships between concepts. Access requires a free UMLS License.

The US Core Implementation Guide (IG) is a Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) IG that defines a standard set of data elements and structures to enable consistent exchange of health information across U.S. healthcare systems. It provides a baseline for interoperability, ensuring that electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information technology (IT) systems can communicate essential clinical data reliably. This guide incorporates United states Core Data for Interoperability’s (USCDI) set of health data classes and elements with USCDI specifying the content (what data) and US Core defining the structure (how data is represented in FHIR). 

The Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) is a value set authoring tool and repository. It is the source of truth for value sets for CMS's electronic clinical quality measures. The National Library of Medicine maintains the VSAC and provides access via web browsers and APIs. The VSAC provides downloadable resources for all measure releases that provide full eCQM value sets, the Binding Parameter Specification, and the complete lists of Direct Reference Codes, retired codes, and utilized code systems. The VSAC provides users with tools to search existing value sets, create new value sets, and maintain value set content consistent with current versions of the terminologies they use. Access requires a free Unified Medical Language System License. 

Visual Studio Code is an open-source text editor that can expand its utility by installing appropriate extensions. The ‘cqframework.cql’ extension supports highlighting, syntax checking, ad hoc evaluation, test cases, terminology for Clinical Quality Language (CQL), and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® model validation. This free text editor can be used to facilitate electronic clinical quality measure evaluation and testing using the open source CQL Evaluation Engine.

The Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) Collaboration Tool provides a central site where value set authors can post value sets for collaborative discussion. Teams can share threaded discussions about the value sets, view recent value set expansions posted by other value set authors, organize their value sets by usage and by team’s workflow needs, collaborate with other value set authors to harmonize value sets, and receive activity and change notifications from VSAC. Access requires a free Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) license.

The VSAC Support Center is the Help section of the Value Set Authority Center website. It provides information on how to use the VSAC, specific information for value set authors and stewards (e.g., how to create value sets), and additional information such as release notes and how to use the VSAC Collaboration Tool, and VSAC Application Programming Interface Resources.

The Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) Sharing Value Set (SVS) Application Programming Interface (API) allows the user to retrieve one or more value set expansions, with or without its metadata and definition version, using RetrieveMultipleValueSets and RetrieveValueSet, respectively. It is based on section 2.2.21 of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) IT Infrastructure (ITI) Technical Framework and the IHE SVS XML Schema. Access requires a free Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) license.