No. “Weeks of Pregnancy at Time of Enrollment (WOP)” was retired in HEDIS 2017; the RAND number was inadvertently included in the HEDIS 2018 Volume 2 Technical Update memo.
FAQ Directory
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.
Filter Results
-
Save
Save your favorite pages and receive notifications whenever they’re updated.
You will be prompted to log in to your NCQA account.
Save your favorite pages and receive notifications whenever they’re updated.
You will be prompted to log in to your NCQA account.
-
Email
Share this page with a friend or colleague by Email.
We do not share your information with third parties.
Share this page with a friend or colleague by Email.
We do not share your information with third parties.
-
Print
Print this page.
Print this page.
11.15.2017 Weeks of Pregnancy at Time of Enrollment The HEDIS 2018 Volume 2 Technical Update memo includes a RAND number for the “Weeks of Pregnancy at Time of Enrollment” measure. Is this correct?
11.15.2017 Guidelines for Calculations and Sampling The footnote on page 45 of HEDIS 2018 Volume 2 indicates that the lowest Prior Year rate from “Prenatal and Postpartum Care” and “Frequency of Prenatal Care” should be used to reduce the sample size for PPC. Given that FPC was retired with the HEDIS 2018 Volume 2 Technical Update, should the PPC MRSS use the lower rate of the Postpartum and Prenatal care indicators?
Yes. With the retirement of the FPC measure, organizations may reduce the sample size for the PPC measure using the lowest rate of the 2 indicators from the current year’s administrative rate or the prior year’s audited, product line-specific rate.
This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 201811.15.2017 Supplemental Data Is it acceptable to flag records in a supplemental data file as paid or denied when there is no payment attached to the records in the file?
No. It is not acceptable to classify a supplemental data source as paid or denied unless it is known whether the data in the data source were paid or denied. This is especially true when the data are being used for measures that require claims payment statuses (e.g. LBP, NCS). Organizations should not assume services were denied services just because there isn't a payment status associated with them. For measures where payment status is required, the auditor must be able to validate that the payment status is accurate.
This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 201811.15.2017 Reporting Requirements The HEDIS 2018 Volume 2 Technical Update memo announced the retirement of “Annual Monitoring for Patients on Persistent Medications (MPM)” for Medicare and the name change from “Inpatient Hospital Utilization (IHU)” to “Acute Hospital Utilization (AHU).” This caused a discrepancy between the CMS Reporting Memo and HEDIS 2018 Volume 2 Technical Specifications. Will CMS release a clarification on what must be reported for HEDIS 2018 for Medicare?
Yes. CMS released a clarification on October 11, 2017, through HPMS, announcing that MPM was retired and is not required for HEDIS 2018 reporting; it also clarified that “Inpatient Hospital Utilization” is now “Acute Hospital Utilization” and should be reported as the updated measure. If you have additional questions, contact CMS at HEDISquestions@cms.hhs.gov.
This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 201811.15.2017 Use of Opioids at High Dosage In the HEDIS 2018 Volume 2 Technical Update memo Table UOD-A includes a variable ranging from 4-12 for the MED Conversion Factor for methadone based on mg/day of methadone used. However, in the HEDIS 2018 NDC MLD Directory all NDCs for Methadone under the medication list "Opioid Medication" have a MED Conversion Factor (column M) of 3. For performing the MED calculation in UOD, which MED Conversion Factor should be used for methadone?
For HEDIS 2018 reporting, for methadone, the MED conversion factor of "3" should be used as listed in the NDC list; not the factors listed in Table UOD-A. We will reevaluate using the sliding scale conversion factors for HEDIS 2019.
This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 201811.15.2017 General Guidelines General Guideline 17 says that "Members with dual commercial and Medicaid coverage must be reported in the commercial HEDIS reports. These members may be excluded from the Medicaid HEDIS reports." If a member has primary insurance in a Medicaid plan and secondary insurance in another Medicaid plan at any time during the measurement year, should the secondary Medicaid plan report the member in their HEDIS report?
To meet criteria for dual coverage, the member should have dual coverage at the end of the continuous enrollment period (dual coverage is assessed on a measure-by-measure basis). For example, if a measure's continuous enrollment period ends on December 31 of the MY and has dual Medicaid and commercial enrollment on that date, then the member may be excluded from the Medicaid HEDIS reports for the measure and only be reported in the commercial product line (General Guideline 23 in HEDIS 2018 Volume 2). In cases where the member is dually enrolled in two Medicaid plans, the secondary Medicaid payer would have the choice to exclude the member if the primary Medicaid coverage was offered through a different organization.
This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 201811.15.2017 DEA or CDS Certificates Is a photocopy of a practitioner's DEA certificate acceptable documentation for CR 3, Element A, factor 2?
11.15.2017 The Value-based Payment worksheet What is the Value-Based Payment worksheet for PHM 3B, and where can we find it?
11.15.2017 Delegation of NET Directories How is NET 7, Element E, factor 1 scored when an organization delegates only the directory functions in NET 6?
11.15.2017 Updated: Timeliness of postservice appeal decisions for Medicare and Medicaid Does the recent change for Medicare and Medicaid postservice appeals from 60 calendar days to 30 calendar days align with Chapter 13 of the Medicare Managed Care Manual?
No. Medicare product lines continue to follow the 60-calendar-day time frame for postservice appeals.
Note: The requirement is correct for Medicare product lines; Medicaid product lines continue to follow the 30-calendar-day time frame for postservice appeals.
This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HP 2018|UM-CR-PN 201811.09.2017 Additional Resources Are there any outside resources that may help me in the PCMH transformation process?
| Content Area | Criteria | Resource Link | Description |
| TC | 02 | http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Changes/OptimizetheCareTeam.aspx | Resource on how to optimize staff responsibilities |
| 02 | https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/operations-administration/OATI_Tool3_ART.pdf | Toolkit on how to optimize administrative staff responsibilities to benefit clinical practice | |
| 02 | http://www.improvingprimarycare.org/team/pcp | Resource on how to optimize staff responsibilities | |
| 04 | https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/pfac | Module teaching how to create a patient advisory council | |
| 07 | http://www.nachc.org/research-and-data/prapare/toolkit/ | Toolkit to better understand social determinants of health | |
| 08 | https://integrationacademy.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/AHRQ_AcademyGuidebook.pdf | Information on behavioral healthcare integration in primary practice | |
| KM | 02 G | https://healthleadsusa.org/resources/the-health-leads-screening-toolkit/ | Social needs screening toolkit |
| 12 | https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2012/p0614_preventive_health.html | Discussion on benefits of preventative care | |
| 14 | https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patient-safety-resources/resources/match/match.pdf | Guide to medication reconciliation at transitions | |
| 16 | http://www.teachbacktraining.org/ | Information on teach back training | |
| 17 | http://www.improvingprimarycare.org/work/medication-management | Guide to medication management | |
| 24 | https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/education/curriculum-tools/shareddecisionmaking/index.html | Toolkit for shared decision making | |
| 24 | http://msdmc.org/3-assess/ | Toolkit for shared decision making | |
| 24 | https://shareddecisions.mayoclinic.org/ | Informative website about shared decision making | |
| 13 | http://www.jabfm.org/content/28/2/170.full.pdf | "Patient Empanelment: The Importance of Understanding Who Is at Home in a Medical Home" | |
| AC | 13 | http://www.annfammed.org/content/10/5/396.full | "Estimating a Reasonable Patient Panel Size for Primary Care Physicians With Team-Based Task Delegation" |
| http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/issue-brief/2014/aug/1764_hong_caring_for_high_need_high_cost_patients_ccm_ib.pdf | Article discussing benefits and strategies to care management | ||
| CM | 03 | https://nf.aafp.org/Shop/practice-transformation/risk-stratified-care-mgmt-rubric | Risk stratification rubric available to members of the AAFP |
| 03 | http://www.calquality.org/storage/documents/cqc_complexcaremanagement_toolkit_final.pdf | Risk stratification rubric from California Quality Collaborative | |
| 03 | http://www.millimanriskadjustment.com/ | MARA – The Milliman Advanced Risk Adjuster is a model of risk stratification in which risk scores are normalized to a given population. | |
| 04 | http://www.aafp.org/fpm/2015/0100/fpm20150100p7-rt1.pdf | Care Plan template from AAFP, not exclusive to members | |
| 06 | http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/downloads/reports/preference_sensitive.pdf | Resource on how to incorporate patient preference into care management | |
| 08 | http://www.ihi.org/resources/pages/tools/selfmanagementtoolkitforclinicians.aspx | Toolkit to aid clinicians in promoting self-management | |
| 08 | https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-care/improve/self-mgmt/index.html | Resources on self management | |
| 08 | http://champsonline.org/tools-products/clinical-resources/patient-education-tools/patient-self-management-tools | Condition specific self management tools | |
| 08 | https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/ | Article discussing proper communication between primary and specialist clinicians | |
| CC | 14 | http://nihcr.org/analysis/improving-care-delivery/prevention-improving-health/ed-coordination/ | Information on improving communication between emergency and primary physicians |
| 16 | https://share.kaiserpermanente.org/article/kaiser-permanente-study-finds-tailored-post-hospital-visits-lower-risk-readmission-medicare-advantage-patients/ | Article discussing advantages of post hospital primary care visits | |
| QI | https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/publications/files/pcmhqi2.pdf | Resource for building quality improvement in primary care | |
| 03 | http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Measures/ThirdNextAvailableAppointment.aspx | Information on how to utlize third next available appointment measurement | |
| 08 | https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-care/improve/system/pfhandbook/mod4.html | Benefits of PDSA cycle |
This applies to the following Programs and Years:
PCMH 201710.15.2017 ECDS Are there standard guidelines for how an auditor determines and approves an ECDS database and the amount of provider accessibility needed?
There are no specific ECDS guidelines for auditor approval of ECDS data sources. Data sources must meet the ECDS requirements and must be reputable—containing accurate, complete and reliable clinical data. Auditors use the same validation methods as for all other data sources. For example, for claims data, auditors validate the accuracy and completeness of the plan’s claims data. For a case management system, auditors review the system, the processes for capturing data and whether data can be extracted from the system. NCQA will add guidance to audit requirements as we learn more about data sources being used.
