Action Required: Register for an MDS iQIES User Account in Preparation for MDS Transition on April 17, 2023

***Please Note: If you have already completed iQIES/HARP onboarding, no further action is required. Please also note, Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) submissions will continue to be submitted to QIES. ***

The transition to the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) for MDS submission and reports will occur on April 17, 2023. To properly prepare for the transition, all users must create an account and establish credentials in the Healthcare Quality Information System (HCQIS) Access Roles and Profile (HARP) system, followed by requesting User Role access to iQIES. Please note that failure to obtain access prior to April 17, 2023 will impact your ability to submit MDS assessments following QIES Assessment Submission and Processing (ASAP) system for MDS submissions shutoff on Thursday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Register for an iQIES Account
To gain access to iQIES, please follow the steps outlined below.

  1. Create an account in the HARP system using your corporate email address* at: https://harp.cms.gov/register. Note: HARP User IDs cannot be adjusted. As such, please refrain from using facility names or any special characters (such as # or &) when creating the HARP User ID. *If the facility handles 2 or fewer providers and does not have a corporate email domain, a personal email address may be used.
  2. Access iQIES at: https://iqies.cms.gov/ and log in with your HARP credentials (completed in step 1) to complete the process to request your User Role for your provider’s CMS Certification Number (CCN).
  3. Once the user role request has been submitted AND approved by the Provider Security Official (PSO), you will receive a notification via email informing you that your iQIES account access request has been approved. Note: Due to increased role request volume, role request approvals or rejections may take up to 24 hours for the status to be reflected.

***IMPORTANT:  If your organization has not yet identified and registered a Provider Security Official (PSO), you will not be able to complete a user role request. Nursing home and Swing bed providers who are required to submit data to CMS must have at least one staff person assigned and approved as the facility Provider Security Official (PSO), who is responsible for approving all other users for their facility.***

Please refer to the following iQIES documents for more information, located at https://qtso.cms.gov/software/iqies/reference-manuals:

  • iQIES Onboarding Guide for step-by-step instructions to request a user role
    iQIES User Role Matrix for a listing of user category descriptions and role privileges

Resources
For more information on HARP or iQIES, please refer to the following resources:

HARP

iQIES

iQIES Service Center
If you have questions or require assistance, please contact the iQIES Service Center at iqies@cms.hhs.gov or by phone at (800) 339-9313.