Hospitals devastated by the recent hurricanes in Louisiana and Texas will be exempt from submitting certain inpatient quality data to receive a full Medicare payment update, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Friday. The waiver applies to clinical process measures for second-quarter 2008 and HCAHPS data for third-quarter 2008 for all hospitals in counties designated as directly affected by the storms. In addition, the hospitals will not have to validate their first-quarter 2008 clinical process measures. Hospitals in counties not designated as directly affected by the storms can request a data submission waiver from CMS’ Regional Division of Quality Improvement. CMS notified hospitals and Quality Improvement Organizations of the inpatient waivers Friday, and expects to issue similar information soon for the hospital outpatient reporting program.