No. All existing delegation documents must be modified to reflect the specificity requirements before January 1, 2015. All new delegation documents that were effective on or after October 1, 2013, must meet the specificity requirement for standard year 2014.
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11.15.2013 Effective dates of specificity requirements in Delegation Agreements For Element A in all standard categories in delegation (QI 12, UM 15, CR 9, RR 7, MEM 9), will existing delegation agreements be grandfathered if they do not meet the specificity required in the 2014 Written Delegation Agreement elements?
11.15.2013 General Guidelines If a member is included in a measure's denominator due to an incorrect code, may a corrected claim be submitted to remove the member from the measure?
It is not NCQA's policy to dictate an organization's claims submission process. Claims may be corrected or updated as necessary before the HEDIS reporting process begins. However, once the HEDIS reporting process has begun (i.e., the measures' eligible populations are identified and samples are drawn for hybrid reporting), the requirements specified in Volume 2 General Guidelines and Technical Specifications must be followed.
For administrative-only measures, members who meet the eligible population criteria for the measure should remain in the measure. If an organization refreshes data for administrative-only measures, the most accurate and current information must be used for reporting. Additionally, the organization must apply the refresh to all applicable measures.
For hybrid measures, members who are in the denominator due to inaccurate claims data may meet criteria for a valid data error. Valid data errors are identified only for hybrid measures during medical record review and may not be identified using supplemental data. In order to categorize a member as a valid data error (and replace the member with another member from the sample), the chart must show no evidence of the diagnosis and must include evidence to explain or substantiate the data error. As described in General Guideline 40, organizations that elect to refresh data for the sample may not use the refreshed data to change the hybrid sample after it has been selected. The auditor reviews all valid data error exclusions during Medical Record Review Validation.
HEDIS 2014
11.15.2013 Value Set Directory The Summary of Changes spreadsheet in the HEDIS 2014 Volume 2 Value Set Directory lists LOINC code 72732-0 as added to the Sexual Activity Value Set, but that code is not in the Volume 2 Value Sets to Codes spreadsheet.
11.15.2013 Volume 2 Technical Update In the Volume 2 Technical Update memo, the term "discharged alive" was replaced with "discharged" in measures that include discharges for AMI or CABG. Does this mean that members who died prior to discharge should be included in the measures?
No. Removal of the language "discharged alive" does not mean that deceased members should be included in measures. As with other HEDIS measures, deceased members who do not meet continuous enrollment or anchor date criteria should not be included in the measures Eligible Population. The term "discharged alive" was removed in order to make language consistent across AMI, CABG and PCI (the term had been removed from PCI in the July 1 release of the publication; NCQA received questions about why it was removed from PCI but not from AMI or CABG). In 2015, NCQA intends to remove the term "discharged alive" from all remaining references (i.e., PBH, FUH and all measure descriptions).
HEDIS 2014
11.15.2013 Information required in HA disclosures Is the organization required to explain how it assesses member understanding in the health appraisal under MEM 1, Element B, factor 4?
No. Such a statement is not needed in the health appraisal, although the organization is required to have a process for assessing member understanding of the information required by factors 1_3. For factor 4, NCQA reviews the organization's documented process for evaluating understandability of HA disclosures.
11.15.2013 Routine dental and vision care under medical benefit For UM and CR, are routine dental and vision care considered part of the medical benefit for the Exchange product line?
No. Although routine dental and vision care are included as essential benefits as part of the Affordable Care Act, NCQA was approved for its current requirements as an accrediting organization for Exchanges. Because routine dental and vision care are not included in the benefit requirements or utilization management, we will not survey them for 2013 and 2014 health plan accreditation.
10.15.2013 Use of a vendor or delegate for HIP and WHP Certifications. May an organization coming through for HIP or WHP certification use a vendor or delegate for any functions or activities required by the standards and guidelines?
10.15.2013 Commercial and Medicare Exchanges. Do private commercial and Medicare exchanges come under the Exchange product line?
10.15.2013 Core and Structural elements. What is the difference between core elements and structural elements?
Core elements are requirements that an organization must meet even if it has no clients.
Structural elements are requirements that the organization must meet even if it delegates 100% of the function. If an organization delegates the functions associated with a structural requirement, it must provide NCQA with its own programs or policies and procedures and evidence of approval of the delegates documentation.
UM-CR 2013
10.15.2013 Scoring and implementation of new Medicaid language in HP 2014. The 2014 HP standards state that beginning July 1, 2014, Medicaid plans will be reviewed and scored on MEM standards, but may submit a plan for implementing the MEM standards by July 1, 2015 (if the functions are not already in place). What is required of organizations that have surveys before July 1, 2015? What documentation is required of these organizations? Similarly, what is required of organizations that have surveys on or after July 1, 2015?
For Medicare, Medicaid and Exchange surveys beginning on or before June 30, 2015, NCQA will review and score the organization on their submitted implementation plan. The implementation plan must address all requirements of the applicable elements and factors, during the first year of review (July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015). NCQA will not resurvey or reevaluate organizations in 2015 to determine if MEM functions are operational. For Medicare, Medicaid and Exchange surveys beginning on or after July 1, 2015, the organization must demonstrate that MEM functions are operational in order to receive the associated points. We do not expect organizations to submit additional documentation between surveys.