October 2020 CROWNWeb NEWS

On November 9, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to release the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Quality Reporting System (EQRS). This update will allow EQRS to serve as the single platform to complete tasks that were once done via three separate applications – CROWNWeb, ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP), and Renal Management Information System (REMIS).

To migrate data from CROWNWeb, ESRD QIP, and REMIS to EQRS access to all of these systems will be unavailable from November 5, 2020 at 8 PM ET to November 9, 2020 at 7 AM ET.

EQRS Patient Admit/Discharge Guidance

On the September 24, 2020 Town Hall, CMS and the ESRD Outreach, Communication, and Training (EOCT) team presented eight scenarios that provided guidance related to the entry of patients’ admission and discharge records in EQRS. Two of the eight scenarios include:

EQRS PATIENT ADMISSION: SCENARIO 1
Scenario: A patient has been treating at Clinic A for three years. The patient goes to Florida for a week on vacation and receives treatment at Clinic B.
Expectation: Clinic A leaves the patient as its permanent patient the entire time. Clinic B does not admit the patient in EQRS. Clinic A is expected to report clinical data.

EQRS PATIENT ADMISSION: SCENARIO 2
Scenario: A patient has been treating at Clinic 123 for over a year. The patient goes to the hospital and is expected to be there for only two weeks, but it ends up being six weeks.
Expectation: Clinic 123 discharges the patient as of the last treatment date as “Transfer → Hospital” and readmits the patient as a permanent “Transfer In” upon his/her return.

CMS will continue to assess the Admit/Discharge process in EQRS. CMS will implement updates, if necessary, to meet data reporting requirements and the ESRD Community’s needs. Access the September 24, 2020 Town Hall materials and EQRS: Admit/Discharge Guidance document on www.MyCROWNWeb.org for more information.

PART Verification Not Included in EQRS

Patient Attributes and Related Treatment (PART) is a set of patient personal information and treatment history. PART data has historically been obtained from the following CROWNWeb screens: Admit/Discharge, Patient Attributes, and Dialysis Treatment Information. Users have been required to verify PART data every month.

PART verification will not be included in EQRS in order to reduce users’ data reporting requirements.

What does this mean?

Users should be very diligent in completing PART verification until the launch of EQRS, currently targeted for November 9, 2020, to ensure accurate ESRD patient data is migrated to EQRS.
Manual PART verification requirements will not be included in EQRS.

Register for EQRS New User Training

The November 9, 2020 release of EQRS will introduce new steps users must follow to submit facilities’ administrative and patients’ treatment-related data directly to CMS. Join CMS and the ESRD Outreach, Communication, and Training (EOCT) Team for EQRS New User Training. Attendees will learn how to use EQRS to complete the following:

Add Personnel		Set Facility Default Preferences
Admit New Patients		Submit CMS Forms
Enter Clinical Information		Discharge a Patient
And More

Dates:

Thursday, October 29, 2020
Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Time: 2:00 – 3:30 PM ET

Click on the desired event date listed above to register. Participants only need to attend one event, as both sessions will contain the same information.

Clinical Closures

Clinical closure dates apply to all Collection Types (Hemodialysis; Peritoneal Dialysis). Additionally, clinical data submissions apply to all submission methods.

Reporting Month		Clinical Closure Date
August 2020 Clinical Month		November 2, 2020 at 11:59 PM PT
September 2020 Clinical Month		November 30, 2020 at 11:59 PM PT
October 2020 Clinical Month		January 4, 2021 at 11:59 PM PT

The information included as part of this newsletter is current as of the date of release.