The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that MDS assessment submissions and reporting will transition to the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) on April 17, 2023. To prepare for this transition, skilled nursing facilities must register for an account in the HCQIS Access Roles and Profile System (HARP) to access iQIES and assign at least one staff member (preferably two) as the Provider Security Official (PSO), who is responsible for approving all other roles for the facility. Nurse assessment coordinators (NACs), who will be responsible for submitting MDS assessments to iQIES, should request one of two role options:
- Provider Security Official – This role will essentially have complete access to all available functionality within iQIES that is possible for a provider role. This role should be assigned to the facility staff member with an understanding of the type of iQIES access that will be required by other staff members to perform their job duties. For smaller facilities, the NAC will need to request this role if they will be the only iQIES user in their facility.
- Assessment Coordinator – If the NAC is not the Provider Security Official and primarily will use iQIES for the functionality of submitting MDS assessments, they should request the Assessment Coordinator role. In the iQIES User Roles Matrix Job Aid on page 10, CMS states that this role “can create, modify, or inactivate assessments in the iQIES Assessment User Tool.”
CMS also provided a breakdown of the provider user roles and privileges in Table 4 on page 11 of the iQIES User Roles Matrix Job Aid. Review this chart carefully before requesting a role.
Additional iQIES Resources: