Northern California Wildfires - Disaster Exceptions/Exemptions for Medicare Certified Providers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions under certain Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs to acute care hospitals, inpatient psychiatric facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospices, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals, renal dialysis facilities, and ambulatory surgical centers located in areas affected by the devastating impacts of the Northern California wildfires since October 8, 2017, in and around counties in Northern California.. These providers will be granted exceptions without having to submit an extraordinary circumstances exception request if they are located in one of the California counties which has been designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a major disaster county.

The scope and duration of the exception under each Medicare quality reporting program is described in the memo posted on 10-30-17, however, all of the exceptions are being granted to assist these providers while they direct their resources toward caring for their patients and repairing structural damages to facilities.

In addition, CMS will continue to monitor the situation and adjust exempted reporting periods and submission deadlines accordingly.

Further details and materials are available on the CMS 2017 California Wildfires webpage. Please check back frequently for updates.