Important to submit CHARS data by July 15th; delay could mean reduction in Medicaid payment

With recent changes in the law, the hospital safety net assessment program has new provisions for the quality incentive program.  Under these provisions, hospitals must be in compliance with existing Department of Health financial reporting requirements to qualify for the quality incentive payment.  These reporting requirements include timely submission of monthly CHARS data.  The next submission date is July 15^th.  Hospitals are allowed only three late submissions of this data before becoming ineligible for the quality incentive payment.

These reporting requirements apply not only to timely monthly submission of CHARS data but also to timely submission of year-end reports, including employee compensation and hospital-based clinic data. Some hospitals may already have one late submission of three allowed late submissions on CHARS, if they did not send the April data by June 15^th.  WSHA is currently drafting a bulletin with additional information. (Andrew Busz, andrewb@wsha.org)