CMS will end health equity and social drivers of health reporting requirements for its end-stage renal disease quality reporting and incentive programs on Dec. 31.
CMS administers the End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Reporting System and the ESRD Quality Incentive Program to monitor care quality for patients with kidney failure at dialysis facilities. The programs link facility performance on selected measures to public reporting and, in some cases, Medicare payment adjustments.
Under a final rule released Nov. 24, CMS will no longer require dialysis facilities to report on health equity commitments or patient social determinants of health screenings as part of its ESRD quality programs.
CMS will also shut down the Health Risk Assessment dashboard within the quality database for this program and remove all existing health equity and SDOH data from user-accessible extracts in early 2026, according to a Dec. 30 agency alert.
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