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Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, HHS.
Notice.
This notice acknowledges the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services' (the Secretary's) receipt and review of Battelle Memorial Institute's 2025 Annual Activities Report to Congress. The Battelle Memorial Institute is the consensus-based entity (CBE) under a contract with the Secretary, as mandated by section 1890(b)(5) of the Social Security Act (the Act). The Secretary has reviewed CBE's 2025 Annual Report and is publishing the report in the Federal Register together with the Secretary's comments on the report not later than 6 months after receiving the report in accordance with section 1890(b)(5)(B) of the Act. This notice fulfills the statutory requirements. The Act requires the Secretary to review and publish the report; however, this statutory obligation does not constitute endorsement by the Secretary of the CBE's annual report or its specific recommendations.
Charlayne Van, (410) 786-8659.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has long recognized that a high functioning health care system that provides higher quality care requires accurate, valid, and reliable measurement of quality and efficiency. Section 183(a) of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) (Pub. L. 110-275, July 15, 2008) added section 1890 of the Social Security Act (the Act), which requires the Secretary of HHS (the Secretary) to contract with a consensus-based entity (CBE) to perform multiple duties to help improve performance measurement. Section 3014 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the Affordable Care Act) (Pub. L. 111-148, March 23, 2010) expanded the duties of the CBE to help in the identification of gaps in available measures and to improve the selection of measures used in health care programs in section 1890(b) of the Act. The below comments are regarding the 2025 activities conducted by Battelle as the CBE during that time.
Section 1890(b) of the Act requires that the CBE synthesize evidence and convene key stakeholders to make recommendations on an integrated national strategy and priorities for health care performance measurement in all applicable settings. In doing so, pursuant to section 1890(b)(1)(A) of the Act, the CBE must give priority to measures that: (1) address the health care provided to patients with prevalent, high-cost chronic diseases; (2) have the greatest potential for improving quality, efficiency, and patient-centered health care; and (3) may be implemented rapidly due to existing evidence, standards of care, or other reasons. Additionally, pursuant to section 1890(b)(1)(B) of the Act, the CBE must take into account measures that: (1) may assist consumers and patients in making informed health care decisions; (2) address health disparities across groups and areas; and (3) address the continuum of care furnished by multiple providers or practitioners across multiple settings.
Endorsement of Measures. Under section 1890(b)(2)(A) through (B) of the Act, the CBE must provide for the endorsement of standardized health care performance measures. This process must consider whether measures are evidence-based, reliable, valid, verifiable, relevant to enhanced health outcomes, actionable at the caregiver level, feasible to collect and report, responsive to variations in patient characteristics such as health status, language capabilities, race or ethnicity, and income level and are consistent across types of health care providers, including hospitals and physicians.
Maintenance of CBE Endorsed Measures. The CBE is required to establish and implement a process to ensure that endorsed measures are updated (or retired if obsolete) as new evidence is developed.
Removal of Measures. Section 102(c) of Division CC of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116-260, December 27, 2020) amended section 1890(b) of the Act to permit the CBE to provide input to the Secretary on measures that may be considered for removal.
Convening Multi-Stakeholder Groups. The CBE must convene multi-stakeholder groups to provide input on: (1) the selection of certain categories of quality and efficiency measures, from among such measures that have been endorsed by the entity and from among such measures that have not been considered for endorsement by such entity but are used or proposed to be used by the Secretary for the collection or reporting of quality and efficiency measures; and (2) national priorities for improvement in population health and in the delivery of health care services for consideration under the national strategy. The CBE provides input on measures for use in certain Medicare programs, for use in programs that report performance information to the public, and for use in health care programs that are not included under the Act. The multi-stakeholder groups provide input on quality and efficiency measures for various federal health care quality reporting and quality improvement programs including those that address certain Medicare services provided through hospices, ambulatory surgical centers, hospital inpatient and outpatient facilities, physician offices, cancer hospitals, end stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, and home health care programs. ( printed page 42452)
Transmission of Multi-Stakeholder Input. Not later than February 1 of each year, the CBE must transmit to the Secretary the input of multi-stakeholder groups. Not later than March 1 of each year, the CBE is required to submit to the Congress and the Secretary an annual report. The report is to describe:
Section 50206(c)(1) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-123, February 9, 2018) amended section 1890(b)(5)(A) of the Act to require the CBE's annual report to Congress to include the following: (1) an itemization of financial information for the previous fiscal year ending September 30th, including annual revenues of the entity, annual expenses of the entity, and a breakdown of the amount awarded per contracted task order and the specific projects funded in each task order assigned to the entity; and (2) any updates or modifications to internal policies and procedures of the entity as they relate to the duties of the CBE including specifically identifying any modifications to the disclosure of interests and conflicts of interests for committees, work groups, task forces, and advisory panels of the entity, and information on external stakeholder participation in the duties of the entity.
The CBE must also annually provide a report to Congress and the Secretary under section 1890(b)(5)(A) of the Act. Section 1890(b)(5)(B) of the Act provides that no later than 6 months after receiving the annual report, the Secretary shall review such report; and publish such report in the Federal Register , together with any comments of the Secretary on such report.
This Federal Register notice satisfies the requirement for Secretarial review and publication of the CBE's annual report under section 1890(b)(5)(B) of the Act. The CBE submitted a report on its 2025 activities to Congress and the Secretary on February 24, 2026. The Secretary's Comments on this report are presented in section II. of this notice, and the CBE's 2025 Activities Report to Congress and the Secretary is provided, as submitted to HHS, in the addendum to this Federal Register notice in section IV.
Pursuant to section 1890 of the Act, HHS is pleased to present the 2025 Annual Report from Battelle Memorial Institute, the designated CBE for health care quality measurement. This report details the significant progress made in advancing the quality, safety, and efficiency of America's healthcare system. We commend Battelle for their essential work in convening the Partnership for Quality Measurement, a broad coalition of patients, clinicians, payers, and other stakeholders, to provide transparent, evidence-informed recommendations on performance measures. This collaborative, consensus-driven process is fundamental to ensuring that quality measurement is both meaningful and scientifically robust, fostering trust and driving tangible improvements in care.
The work detailed in this report directly supports key priorities of this Administration, particularly our commitment to promoting wellness and prevention and harnessing technology to build a more efficient and person-centered healthcare system. We are encouraged by the CBE's initiatives to integrate public health and preventive care measures, as highlighted by their focus on primary prevention and the establishment of a Wellness and Nutrition Framework. Furthermore, their forward-leaning efforts to advance the measurement landscape through technology are critical. The exploration of artificial intelligence to reduce provider burden and the development of a roadmap for digital quality measures are vital steps toward modernizing our health infrastructure, improving data accuracy, and ensuring that our quality programs keep pace with 21st-century care delivery.
HHS values the contributions of the CBE and the hundreds of experts and patient representatives who volunteer their time to this consensus-building process. The insights and recommendations generated through this partnership are invaluable as we work to reduce unnecessary data collection burdens, align measures across federal programs, and focus on health outcomes that matter most to patients. We look forward to continuing this collaboration to advance a healthcare system that delivers better care, smarter spending, and healthier people.
This document does not impose information collection requirements, that is, reporting, recordkeeping, or third-party disclosure requirements. Consequently, there is no need for review by the Office of Management and Budget under the authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
In this Addendum, we are publishing the CBE Report on 2025 Activities to Congress and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, as submitted to HHS.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
