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The AHA today urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend the deadline for hospitals to submit 2020 data for the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program from March 1 to at least May 1, 2021, citing problems this year with the system used to submit the data.

“With the current attestation deadline only one month away, it is our understanding that [CMS] is still working with the system developers,” AHA wrote. “While we appreciate that this work is underway, we encourage CMS to provide clear and ongoing communication directly to the field regarding any outstanding issues and the timeline for their resolution. Many of the individuals who manage hospitals’ attestation for the Promoting Interoperability Program also play significant roles in their organization’s vaccine rollout, hospital COVID-19 data reporting and other operations for COVID-19 response. At a time when hospital staff are stretched to their limits, this data reporting should not be adding burden by requiring hospital staff to devote time to re-entering data and engaging in prolonged back and forth communication with the Help Desk.”