The Public Comment is now open through March 25, 2026 on the Draft 2027 CMS QRDA I Implementation Guide, Schematron, and Sample File for Hospital Quality Reporting
The importance criterion assesses the extent to which the specific measure focus is evidence-based and important to making significant gains in health care quality (e.g., safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, patient-centeredness) and improving health outcomes for a specific high-impact aspect of health care where there is variation in or overall poor performance.