Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about NCQA’s various programs. If you don’t see what you are looking for in one of the entries below, you can ask a question through My NCQA.
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The standard license agreement for Quality Compass allows internal or external reporting for 15 measure indicators, 20 health plan submissions and 2 benchmarks (averages and/or percentiles) outside of the users licensed on the account. If your organization’s expected data usage does not align with the standard agreement, we can review your requested permissions and draft a customized agreement, subject to a different fee structure.
Yes, if there is a unique electronic signature or identifier and if the organization can demonstrate that the signature/identifier can only be entered by the signatory. NCQA reviews organizations’ security and login policies and procedures to confirm that the signature/identifier can only be entered by the signatory.
If you do not need access to all the data results available within Quality Compass, you can request a custom data extract. Pricing for data extracts start at $2,500 and are determined by the amount of data requested and the client’s use case.
You can obtain a custom quote by reaching out to the Information Products team and completing a data request form that details your data needs and requested permissions.
You can obtain access to performance data and benchmarks via the NCQA Quality Compass tool. Quality Compass is an interactive database containing individual plan performance results for HEDIS® and CAHPS® measures, as well as benchmark data at the national, regional (Census, HHS) and state levels. To learn more about Quality Compass and licensing access to HEDIS performance results, visit our Quality Compass homepage.
To obtain a list of health plan submissions and/or measures publicly reported in Quality Compass for a specific reporting year, contact the Information Products team by submitting your question on my.ncqa.org.
Quality Compass contains HEDIS and CAHPS measures that were eligible for publicly reporting during the measurement year. First year HEDIS measure results are not publicly reported in the tool.
Individual plan data are the HEDIS and CAHPS performance rates submitted by health plans that chose to publicly report their results to NCQA. Users have access to all publicly reported plans in a specific product line (commercial, Medicaid, Medicare) and can easily select a subset of plans based on coverage in different regions/states.
All versions of Quality Compass allow users to build customized reports within the tool. Versions of Quality Compass that include the Data Exporter feature allows users to download and export those custom reports into Microsoft Excel.
The Data Exporter feature also grants access to the “All Measures Download” file. This file contains plan-level performance data for all publicly reported health plan submissions and all HEDIS and CAHPS measure results in a single downloadable file. Versions purchased without Data Exporter will not have the ability to export plan level data but will still have access to Excel versions of the benchmarks.
Starting in 2023 for Transforming practices and in 2024 for currently recognized practices, direct collection of data on sexual orientation and gender identity of patients is required for KM 09. This requirement applies to all patients aged 18+, though practices are encouraged to also ask adolescent patients if they have a system for doing so.
| Topic | Update Highlights |
| Policies and Procedures | Section restructured |
| Policies and Procedures | Addition of language regarding Corrective Action Plans |
| KM 06 | Addition of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity as required topics of data collection. Added requirement that data be direct collection. |
| KM 06 | Added requirement that data be direct collection. |
| PM 19 | New elective criterion regarding person-driven outcomes. |
| Appendix 2 – Glossary | Added “Age as a Vulnerability” |
| Topic | Update Highlights |
| Policies and Procedures | Section restructured |
| Policies and Procedures | Addition of language regarding Corrective Action Plans |
| KM 09 | Addition of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity as required topics of data collection. Added requirement that data be direct collection |
| KM 10 | Added requirement that data be direct collection |
| CM 10 | New elective criterion regarding person-driven outcomes |
| Appendix 2 – Glossary | Added “Age as a Vulnerability” |
Both the organization and delegate must monitor the delegate’s system security controls as part of the delegation oversight requirements and may choose audit as the monitoring method. If auditing is the chosen method, the delegate provides an audit report of modifications that did not comply with its policies and procedures or with the delegation agreement.
The organization is not required to conduct an audit if it determines that the delegate adequately monitored and reported noncompliant modifications, but must provide documentation (a report, meeting minutes or other evidence) that it reviewed and agreed with the delegate’s findings. If the organization determines that the delegate did not adequately monitor noncompliant modifications, it must conduct its own audit of the delegate’s system controls.
The organization must submit its documentation and the delegate’s documentation as part of the survey.
