New CMS Guidance Requires Psychiatric Hospitals to Report Covid-19 Data Weekly

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released guidance that requires Medicare- and Medicaid-participating psychiatric hospitals to report Covid-19 data to the agency on a weekly basis. CMS published an interim final rule in early September that said hospitals would be required to submit Covid-19 data during the public health emergency in a frequent, standardized way that the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) secretary specified. This week’s awaited guidance makes it clear that the nation’s psychiatric hospitals—along with rehabilitation hospitals—need to report their data weekly, and not on a daily basis as other hospital types are required to do. The agency listed the required data in new guidance and also developed an infographic that highlights when the agency plans to alert hospitals about gaps in reporting and compliance. Links to these new materials are also available our Covid-19 resources webpage.