Digital Quality Reporting in ACOs: How Ensure Data Solutions Helps Organizations Stay Ahead

What HR 5347 Means for ACOs

On June 29, 2026, the House passed HR 5347 — the Health Care Efficiency Through Flexibility Act — by a unanimous vote. The legislation extends flexible quality reporting options for Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs through 2029, giving smaller, rural, and independent practices more time to prepare for full digital reporting requirements. In addition, it directs CMS to run a pilot program from 2028 to 2032 to test alternative digital reporting pathways.

The bill reflects a practical reality: many ACO participants do not yet have the IT infrastructure needed to meet digital-only quality reporting standards. As a result, Congress is giving organizations more runway — not to avoid the transition, but to make it successfully.

For Ensure Data Solutions, this legislation reinforces exactly what we have been building toward: an interoperability and data infrastructure platform that helps ACOs meet quality reporting requirements today while positioning them for the digital future ahead.

The Interoperability Gap Is the Real Challenge

The organizations that struggle most with quality reporting are often the same ones that struggle with care coordination, risk management, and population health management. That is not a coincidence — it is a pattern seen consistently across the industry.

The reporting barrier and the care coordination barrier share the same root cause — a lack of connected, interoperable data infrastructure. When a practice cannot submit quality measures digitally, it typically also cannot receive real-time alerts about patient admissions, share clinical documentation across providers, or act on population health insights at the point of care.

How Ensure Data Solutions Addresses This

The Ensure platform connects clinical data, quality management, care coordination, and financial analytics into one unified system — giving organizations the visibility and tools to act on the right information at the right time. EnsureXchange© is the interoperability engine at the center of that platform, purpose-built to address the data sharing and connectivity challenges that digital quality reporting and accountable care depend on.

EnsureXchange© — Interoperability ↗

EnsureXchange enables smooth, two-way exchange of clinical data between EHR systems and the Ensure analytics platform. In addition, it supports the structured and unstructured data sharing that ACOs need to meet quality reporting requirements, coordinate care across providers, and act on real-time clinical insights at the point of care.

• Two-way EMR connectivity supporting digital quality measure data collection across multiple reporting methods
• Exchange of structured and unstructured clinical documentation across providers, payers, and care settings
• Point-of-care alerts notifying providers of open care gaps, clinical events, and quality opportunities in real time
• FHIR connectivity supporting modern interoperability standards and a clear path toward full digital reporting
• Chart retrieval and documentation improvement tools that reduce admin burden and improve data completeness

As a result, EnsureXchange helps organizations move from disconnected, manual workflows toward a connected, real-time operating model — one that supports current reporting flexibility while building toward the digital requirements ahead.

What ACOs Should Do With This Window of Time

HR 5347 gives ACO participants more time. However, the organizations that use this window to build connected data infrastructure will not simply meet the reporting requirements when they arrive. In addition, they will be better positioned to manage attributed populations, close care gaps, and perform under the financial terms of their ACO agreements.

Moreover, the pilot program that HR 5347 establishes from 2028 to 2032 is designed to test new digital reporting pathways. Organizations that are already building toward digital interoperability will be far better placed to participate in and benefit from those pilots.

The Path Forward

The passage of HR 5347 is a practical step forward for ACO participation. It removes a near-term barrier, supports continued growth in accountable care, and creates a structured path toward digital reporting that works for practices of all sizes. At the same time, it makes the infrastructure challenge clearer than ever.

Ensure Data Solutions was built for exactly this moment — helping risk-bearing organizations connect their data, streamline their workflows, and build the interoperability foundation that value-based care performance demands. Whether your organization is just entering accountable care or looking to strengthen an existing program, the Ensure platform has the tools and expertise to support the journey.