Update: Reporting Perinatal Care measure to be optional for hospitals starting in 2024
Beginning with calendar year (CY) 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is removing the Perinatal Care (PC) electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) ePC-05 from the Inpatient Quality Reporting Program. However, The Joint Commission supports exclusive breast milk feeding for the first six months of neonatal life, which has been a long-term goal of the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
To support this goal, The Joint Commission will maintain both the PC-05 chart-abstracted measure and ePC-05 for optional use in ORYX® reporting. Keeping the measure as an optional measure will allow Joint Commission-accredited critical access hospitals and hospitals to use the measure for data collection, monitoring, and quality improvement efforts. This change will be effective Jan. 1, 2024. The PC-05 chart-abstracted measure will continue to be required for Advanced Certification in Perinatal Care (ACPC).
Additionally, The Joint Commission will update the verbiage in performance measure PC-05 to reflect more inclusive language. The measure name and references to breastfeeding will be updated to Human Milk Feeding to be inclusive of donor milk and chest feeding.
To support this goal, The Joint Commission will maintain both the PC-05 chart-abstracted measure and ePC-05 for optional use in ORYX® reporting. Keeping the measure as an optional measure will allow Joint Commission-accredited critical access hospitals and hospitals to use the measure for data collection, monitoring, and quality improvement efforts. This change will be effective Jan. 1, 2024. The PC-05 chart-abstracted measure will continue to be required for Advanced Certification in Perinatal Care (ACPC).
Additionally, The Joint Commission will update the verbiage in performance measure PC-05 to reflect more inclusive language. The measure name and references to breastfeeding will be updated to Human Milk Feeding to be inclusive of donor milk and chest feeding.