CMS Releases Updates to the SAFER Guides for Healthcare Practitioners

As the healthcare industry continues to evolve in the wake of economic pressures and technological advances, practitioners must stay updated on the SAFER Guides to navigate this transition period effectively. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) created the SAFER Guides to help healthcare organizations address Electronic Health Records (EHR) safety in the current regulatory and clinical environment. As innovations and industry shifts occur, annual amendments are made, providing resources to organizations to stay prepared for the present and future.

Recently CMS released new 2025 SAFER Guides that will go into effect for the 2026 assessment year to be attested to in 2027. Organizations should note that the previous 2016 versions of the SAFER Guides continue to be applicable for the 2025 Assessment and 2026 Attestation for the SAFER Guides measures included in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program for eligible hospitals and CAHs and the Promoting Interoperability performance category of the Merit Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

Key 2025 SAFER Guide Updates

The new guides emphasize recent industry shifts and common issues in the healthcare landscape, such as adopting digital extensions to their EHR with AI. The guides address typical healthcare IT safety concerns, specifically leading to patient harm and improvements to prevent harm. They provide a framework for continued proactive risk assessments, specifically in high-risk areas. We have compiled a list of key revisions to help understand the changes in the SAFER Guides:

Structural Changes

• New guides eliminate, combine, or clarify recommendations, incorporating user feedback and recent research
• The previous System Configuration and System Interfaces Guides were combined into one System Management Guide
• Recommended practices were reduced to 88 from 147
• Implementation examples were reduced to 524 from 540

Expanded Topics

• Use of AI in clinical care
• Patient-clinician communication
• Patient access to clinical notes/test results (21st Century Cures Act)
• Cybersecurity
• Enhanced software testing practices related to interface testing, testing usability, and testing clinically relevant scenarios

 Strength of Recommendation Added

• Required – Regulatory Requirement
• Strong – Research Level
• Medium – Practice Level
• Low – Context Level

Additional Implementation Statuses

• Implementation Status has expanded to include increased specificity around previous Partial Statuses (Making Progress, Halfway There, and Substantial Progress)
• An additional Implementation Status of EHR Limitation, signifying that the EHR does not offer the features/functionality required to fully implement this recommendation or the implementation guidance

Suggested Sources of Input Added

• The guides include roles at your organization that would best be able to assess the recommended practice, such as clinicians, EHR developers, health IT support staff, etc.

Navigating the Next Steps

Our Digital Health Services team is committed to reviewing the SAFER Guides changes and updating all our platforms to help equip organizations with the necessary knowledge to understand the revisions proactively and effectively. To learn how the changes can affect your practice or how to implement these updates best, contact us below.