October 3, 2016
WASHINGTON, DC—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has updated the HEDIS®Colorectal Cancer Screening measure in order to respond to recently revised scientific guidelines by the US Preventive Services Task Force.
The USPSTF recommends colorectal cancer screening that includes a variety of tests, and noted that offering more options and sharing decision making with patients may be an opportunity to improve screening rates.
According to the USPSTF Recommendation Statement, Screening for Colorectal Cancer, 2016: “…offering choice in colorectal cancer screening strategies may increase screening uptake. As such, the screening tests are not presented in any preferred or ranked order; rather, the goal is to maximize the total number of persons who are screened because that will have the largest effect on reducing colorectal cancer deaths.”
Colorectal Cancer Screening is a long-standing, widely used measure. Changes to the measure align with USPSTF recommendations, and will be published in the October Technical Specifications Update. The updated measure is effective for HEDIS 2017.
Disclaimer
HEDIS® measures and specifications are not clinical guidelines and do not establish a standard of medical care, and have not been tested for all potential applications. NCQA makes no representations, warranties or endorsements about the quality of any product, test or protocol identified as meeting the requirements of a HEDIS measure or specification. NCQA also makes no representations, warranties or endorsements about the quality of any organization or clinician that uses or reports performance measures. NCQA has no liability to anyone who relies on HEDIS measures or HEDIS data.
For more information, please refer to the HEDIS 2017 Technical Specifications Update: https://www.ncqa.org/hedis-quality-measurement/hedis-measures/hedis-2017