Last week, CMS released an interim final rule that makes collecting and reporting of COVID-19 data a Medicare Condition of Participation (CoP) for hospitals. The rule requires hospitals to report daily data such as the number of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 positive patients and other data items included in CMS’ July FAQs. To justify this policy, CMS states that “While many hospitals are voluntarily reporting this information now, not all are.” Additionally, the rule requires all laboratories (including those in hospitals and other facilities) to report COVID-19 test results daily to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The rule became effective on September 2^nd. For further details on this rule, click here.

Open document to read more; page 5.