FAQ Directory

If any data is found in a supplemental data source, it is considered a supplemental data hit because the member would not be compliant for the measure/indicator without the data source.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Yes. For Medicare reporting, exclude members who elect to use the hospice benefit (i.e., use hospice service) any time during the measurement year. These members must be removed prior to determining the measure’s eligible population and drawing the sample for hybrid measures.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

No. For HEDIS 2016 reporting, this new requirement was added to only the Effectiveness of Care (EOC) and EOC-like measures. “EOC-like measures” refers to the Utilization measures that have the same structure as and follow the same guidelines as the measures in the EOC domain (i.e., Frequency of Ongoing Prenatal Care, Well-Child Visits in the First 15 Months of Life, Well-Child visits in the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Years of Life, Adolescent Well-Care Visits). While supplemental data may be used for other measures, NCQA is not currently collecting this data element for other measures at this time.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Customers can find additional information about these topics (including FAQs specific to this data source and the DMS measure) at the following link, http://ncqa.org/ECDS.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Yes. Organizations with a Medicare product line can come through the NCQA Health Plan Accreditation process.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Unfortunately, the AMA has not released a CPT II code for a systolic reading of between 140 and 150 mmHg, or under 150 mmHg. We updated the CBPH measure to align with new blood pressure guidelines; if there are patients whose systolic reading falls between 140 and 150 and it is captured in other kinds of supplemental data, they can be included in the numerator. Our data suggests that use of CPT II codes to retrieve this data is uncommon. This data is available in EHRs as well as via supplemental sources such as registries and laboratory data. There is a note to this effect in the specification for the CBPH measure on page 50 of the manual (http://www.iha.org/pdfs_documents/p4p_california/MY-2014-VBP4P-Manual- 20141201.pdf).

This is similar to the way the HbA1C <8.0% is calculated, as there is not a CPT II code specific to <8.0%. More information can be found in the manual on page 66 (http://www.iha.org/pdfs_documents/p4p_california/MY-2014-VBP4P-Manual- 20141201.pdf).

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

The organization must notify NCQA, in writing, within thirty (30) calendar days of the issuance of the notice of sanctions, issuance of a fine or issuance of a request for corrective action. 

The organization must also complete an annual attestation signed by an officer, or other authorized signatory of the organization, affirming that it has notified NCQA of all Reportable Events specified within the Agreement. NCQA-accredited health plans that reports HEDIS results include the attestation with its submission of the annual IDSS attestation submission for HEDIS® reporting.  Other health plans submit the completed attestation electronically to NCQA-Accreditation@ncqa.org. 

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

The organization must report the occurrence of any of the following actions by any federal or state regulatory authority:

• Issuance of Intermediate Sanctions and/or suspension of enrollment by CMS or any other federal or state regulatory authority.
• Issuance of any fine equal to or exceeding $50,000 related to Organization’s operations by CMS or any other federal or state regulatory authority.
• Issuance of any request for a corrective action by any federal or state regulatory authority where the substance of such corrective action relates to the Organization’s handling of utilization management decisions, network adequacy, benefit denials, complaints, grievances, appeals or other important patient safety matters. 

The above actions are referred to as the “final determination” within the Agreement.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Yes. The Agreement for Health Plan Accreditation Survey (the “Agreement”), specified in the “Organization’s obligations” section of the standards and guidelines, requires the organization to provide NCQA written notice within thirty (30) calendar days of the final determination by a state or federal agency with respect to request for corrective action, imposition of sanctions, changes in licensure or qualification status, if applicable, or violation of any federal or state law that affects the Scope of Review under the Standards and Guidelines. These are termed Reportable Events.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Yes. The PCS system will be moved to a new Web site—http://my.ncqa.org—by the end of April. Customers who access the old PCS site will be automatically rerouted to the new site. The new site takes the same login and password; you will not need to change them.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Well-Child Visits in the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Years of Life should be reported using only the administrative methodology as specified in the 2015 QRS Technical Specifications (http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/QualityInitiativesGenInfo/Downloads/2015-QRS-Measure-Technical-Specifications.pdf). Hybrid specifications are not available for this measure in the QRS.  The W34 measure is listed as a measure in the sample size table of the QRS Sampling Guidelines and was a misprint which will be corrected in the 2016 QRS Measure Technical Specification.
 
For organizations who have started medical record review for W34, please note, the IDSS will only accept the administrative elements of the measure for QRS.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:

Yes. Nurse practitioners acting as chief nursing officers may approve clean files in states where nurse practitioners can practice independently, or independently with a collaborative physician arrangement.

This applies to the following Programs and Years: