Measure Collaboration Workspace Frequently Asked Questions

The Measure Collaboration Workspace is a collaborative portal that supports quality and IT staff at hospital and provider organizations to more easily implement and use eCQMs, and it is hosted on the eCQI Resource Center – which is the one-stop shop for the most current resources to support electronic clinical quality improvement.  

The MC Workspace brings together a set of interconnected resources, tools, and processes to promote transparency and better interaction across stakeholder communities that develop, implement, and report electronic clinical quality measures (eCQM). The MC Workspace is made up of four modules to support measure collaboration:

• eCQM Concepts allows users to search existing measure inventories and submit new measure concepts for consideration
• New eCQM Clinical Workflow allows users to review sample clinical workflows associated with new eCQMs and an opportunity to provide feedback on anticipated challenges
• The eCQM Data Element Repository provides data definitions to aid in measure implementation and data mapping
• eCQM Test Results provides transparency into how measures are tested and allow users to express interest in participating in eCQM testing activities

The MC Workspace User Guide provides detailed information on using all of the modules.

The Measure Collaboration Workspace is sponsored and maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Measure Collaboration Workspace is a public resource for use by clinicians, implementers (hospital/clinician clinical quality and EHR analysts and health IT vendors), measure developers, and the general public interested in electronic clinical quality measurement.

Users do not need an account to view information contained within the Measure Collaboration Workspace.  An account is needed if you would like to subscribe to notifications or to add any content to the site, content to include proposed eCQM Concepts, comments, and feedback on testing or workflows. 

To set up an account on the eCQI Resource Center, select the “Sign in” button on the upper right side of the screen. This opens the Log in page. Select the tab that reads “Create new account” and set up an account by providing your Email address and desired Username. 

Users with active accounts can receive updates on a particular topic of interest by subscribing to a page. Subscribing to a page provides the user with email notifications when content is added or changed on that page. To subscribe to a page, navigate to the webpage of interest (e.g., eCQI Tools & Resources, Quality Data Model (QDM), Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA)), and select "Receive updates on this topic" on top left part of the page. When you successfully subscribe to a page, you will notice that “Receive updates on this topic” has been replaced by “Stop receiving updates on this topic”. Click this link if you wish to stop receiving notifications. 

You can manage your eCQI Resource Center account by selecting “My account” at the upper right side of the page. The “Edit” tab allows you to change your password, select whether you would like to receive emails related to your subscriptions, and choose your time zone You can manage all your subscriptions on the site by navigating to the “Subscriptions” tab.    

Note that not all pages allow subscriptions.  If you have any questions on this feature contact the eCQI Resource Center team at ecqi-resource-center@hhs.gov.

The eCQM Data Element Repository currently provides data definitions for electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) used in CMS quality reporting programs for the 2019 Performance/Reporting Period and the 2020 Performance/Reporting Period.  The eCQM Data Element Repository will be updated each year to incorporate the eCQM annual updates.

The Measure Collaboration Workspace is hosted on the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI) Resource Center and is constantly improving to better meet the needs of its users. Please send any questions or feedback to ecqi-resource-center@hhs.gov.

Comments submitted to the Measure Collaboration Workspace are sent to CMS and their measure developers for consideration. These comments may help provide suggestions not previously considered by the measure developers.  The comments collected in the Measure Collaboration Workspace are separate from the public comment obtained during the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsement process and the federal rulemaking process. When measures progress to these phases when public comment is collected separately, commenting will be suppressed in the Measure Collaboration Workspace.

The eCQM DERep is an online searchable repository that provides all the data elements and definitions associated with eCQMs used in CMS quality reporting programs by eligible hospitals, critical access hospitals, providers, and clinicians. The CMS DEL is the centralized resource for CMS assessment instrument data elements (e.g. questions and responses) and their associated health information technology (IT) standards, including the Minimum Data Set (MDS), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility Patient Assessment Instrument (IRF-PAI), Functional Assessment Standardized Items (FASI), Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS), Long-term Care Hospital Continuity Assessment Record and Evaluation (CARE) Data Set (LCDS), and the Hospice Item Set (HIS).