The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has contracted with RELI Group to assess the reliability and validity of the Clinical Performance Measure (CPM) data entered into the CROWNWeb system and Dialysis Event data entered into the Center for Disease Control (CDC) NHSN system. RELI will be randomly selecting 335 ESRD facilities to participate in this validation effort. Of those selected, 300 facilities will be sampled to submit records pertaining to CROWNWeb data and 35 facilities will be sampled to submit records pertaining to NHSN data.

If your facility is not selected for validation, there is nothing more to do. If your facility is selected to participate in the validation you will receive a Request Letter via USPS Certified Mail. These requests are scheduled to go out in February 2018. If you are part of a Large Dialysis Organization (LDO), your corporate office may receive your request and contact you for any necessary records.

Please note: you will be required to sign for the letter; if no one is available to sign at the time of delivery, the US Post Office for your area will hold the letter until you are able to retrieve it. In this case, a notice will be left at your facility.

The Request Letter will include:

• The list of patients sampled from your facility (maximum of 10)
• The list of records you will need to submit
• A thorough explanation of the submission process to ensure that all records are submitted to RELI in a secure manner

Facilities that do not respond to this request will receive a 10-point reduction in their End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program Total Performance Score (ESRD QIP TPS).

For questions on the Upcoming ESRD QIP Data Validity and Reliability Study, contact Gladys Happi, MSN, RN, CNN, ESRD Clinical Data Lead/Deputy PM at ghappi@hcdi.com.