CALLING ALL PRACTICES - CMS Requesting comment on QRS AND QHP Future changes! Don't miss the change to provide your comments!!
Help shape the future of the Quality Rating System (QRS) and the Qualified Health Plan (QHP) Enrollee Experience Survey!
CMS has published the Draft 2026 Call Letter for the QRS and QHP Enrollee Survey (Draft 2026 Call Letter), which communicates proposed refinements to the QRS measure set and proposed updates to the QHP Enrollee Survey.
CMS is requesting feedback on proposed refinements for the 2027 ratings year and beyond, including:
Your feedback on the Draft 2026 Call Letter is important. CMS reviews and considers all public comments to determine final decisions on proposed and future refinements.
CMS encourages interested parties to submit comments by the close of the comment period: March 20, 2026.
Comments should be submitted to: Marketplace_Quality@cms.hhs.gov and reference “Marketplace Quality Initiatives (MQI)-Draft 2026 Call Letter” in the subject line.
CQMC Updates Core Measure Sets to Strengthen Focus on Health Outcomes and Reduce Burden (2-12-2026)
The Core Quality Measures Collaborative (CQMC) today announced updates to nine of its core measure sets for 2025, sharpening the focus on outcomes, addressing key gaps in existing sets, and removing measures that are outdated, redundant, not in use, or no longer necessary as performance is universally high.
The CQMC is a public–private partnership convened by AHIP and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). It includes more than 75 organizations representing patients, purchasers, health plans, providers, and quality experts that work together to promote aligned, high-value core quality measures for use in value-based care.
For the 2025 update, the CQMC concentrated on three priorities:
“The health care system needs clear and consistent measures that reflect current clinical practice and support meaningful accountability,” said Danielle A. Lloyd, MPH, Senior Vice President of Private Market Innovations and Quality Initiatives at AHIP and CQMC Steering Committee Chair. “In 2025, the CQMC addressed key gaps, prioritized outcome measures, and retired measures that no longer deliver value—reducing reporting burden while sharpening the focus on results that matter for patients.”
The CQMC core sets cover major clinical domains commonly used in alternative payment models and other value-based arrangements, including:
Across these domains, the core sets are designed to streamline measurement so health plans and clinicians can rely on a concise list of measures that support performance improvement and comparability across programs.
Here are the Medical Oncology Changes:
CQMC Medical Oncology Core Set
About the CQMC
The CQMC is a diverse coalition of health care leaders representing more than 75 consumer groups, medical associations, health insurance providers, purchasers, and other quality stakeholders, all working together to develop and recommend core sets of measures by clinical area to assess and improve the quality of health care in America. The CQMC is a public-private partnership between AHIP and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The CQMC is currently convened by Battelle’s Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) in its role as the consensus-based entity. Click here for more information on the CQMC core measure sets.
About AHIP
AHIP is the national association whose members provide health care coverage, services, and solutions to hundreds of millions of Americans every day. We are committed to market-based solutions and public-private partnerships that make health care better and coverage more affordable and accessible for everyone. Visit www.ahip.org to learn how working together, we are Guiding Greater Health.
About the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Established in 1965, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the largest insurance payer in the United States, covering more than 160 million Americans through programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Using a collaborative and human centered design approach, CMS develops and maintains quality measurement programs, the oversight and standards certification program, and determines coverage analysis. CMS sponsors numerous quality improvement and innovation programs. Through various pilot programs run by CMS and the Quality Improvement Networks/Quality Improvement Organizations (QIN/QIO). . CMS is leading the country in promoting value-based health care to improve the lives of all patients. CMS programs help set health care standards used by many organizations across health care today. Visit www.cms.gov for more information.
Calendar Year (CY) 2026 Call for Improvement Activities Submission Form
CMS is opening the 2026 Call for Improvement Activities.
This submission period is from February 1, 2026, through July 1, 2026. CMS encourages interested parties to submit proposed new activities and proposed modifications to existing activities, especially those that could be included in the new subcategory:
Improvement activities recommended for inclusion or modification should be submitted using the 2026 Improvement Activities Submission Template available on the CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP)Resource Library. The completed template should be sent to the email: CMSCallforActivities@abtassoc.com. Interested parties will receive an email confirmation for their submission.
Improvement activities submitted between February 1 and July 1, 2026, will be considered for inclusion for the CY 2028 performance period, 2030 MIPS payment year. Improvement activities submitted after July 1, 2026, will be considered for inclusion in future years of the QPP.