Understanding CQL and Its Role in Quality Measurement

What is Clinical Quality Language (CQL)?

The CQL specification is an open-source standard published by HL7, designed to describe clinical rules and quality measures. It is a way to communicate complex healthcare information in a clear and consistent manner, and in a way that both humans and machines can read and understand. With CQL, complex clinical scenarios, such as patient eligibility, conditions, and interventions, can be described with a level of detail and flexibility that supports a variety of healthcare applications. This language plays a critical role in facilitating interoperability among different health IT systems and is commonly used for defining clinical quality measures in electronic form, supporting data exchange, and enabling automated decision support within healthcare systems.

The Role of CQL in Clinical Data and Quality Measures

CQL plays a critical role in helping healthcare systems maintain high-quality care by providing a common language to express clinical concepts, support interoperability, and facilitate quality measurement. It also serves as the foundation for creating automated processes that assess healthcare quality and guide clinical decisions. [GRAPHIC 1]

How Does CQL Align with NCQA's Quality Standards and Goals?

NCQA is dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare through measurement, transparency, and accountability. NCQA's primary focus is on promoting high standards in healthcare delivery, emphasizing evidence-based practices, patient-centered care, and continuous quality improvement. CQL aligns with these standards and goals in several ways:

Promoting High-Quality Care: CQL enables NCQA to define and measure clinical quality in a way that supports evidence-based practices and consistent healthcare delivery. By adopting CQL, NCQA can ensure that its quality standards are applied uniformly across different healthcare organizations.
Enhancing Patient-Centered Care: The human-readable nature of CQL allows for a clearer understanding of quality measures, facilitating communication between providers and patients. This alignment with patient-centered care encourages transparency and shared decision-making in clinical settings.
Supporting Continuous Quality Improvement: CQL's flexibility and expressiveness allow NCQA to update and refine quality measures as healthcare best practices evolve. This feature supports NCQA's goal of fostering continuous quality improvement in healthcare.
Encouraging Accountability and Transparency: CQL's standardized approach to defining quality measures enhances accountability by ensuring that quality standards are clear and consistently applied. This transparency aligns with NCQA's focus on promoting accountability within healthcare organizations.
Reducing Barriers to Compliance: By streamlining the process of implementing and evaluating quality measures, CQL helps healthcare organizations comply with NCQA's standards. This simplification aligns with NCQA's goal of reducing barriers to achieving high-quality care.

Drivers of NCQA’s Adoption of CQL

NCQA's adoption of CQL is driven by the need for standardization, interoperability, and efficiency in healthcare quality measurement. CQL's advantages in these areas, particularly in the context of HEDIS digital measures, support NCQA's overarching quality standards and goals, leading to improved healthcare outcomes and enhanced accountability. Drivers include:

Interoperability and Standardization: Designed to be interoperable across different healthcare platforms, NCQA recognizes that adopting CQL will facilitate more consistent and standardized quality measurements across diverse healthcare environments, addressing one of the key challenges in healthcare quality assessment.
Human-Readable Format: Unlike traditional programming languages, CQL is designed to be more accessible and human-readable. This feature allows clinicians, quality measure developers and other stakeholders to understand and work with the logic underlying clinical quality measures without extensive technical expertise.
Improved Efficiency and Automation: NCQA believes that CQL's standardized approach will lead to greater automation in quality measurement processes, reducing manual data collection and interpretation. This efficiency aligns with the organization’s focus on promoting effective, streamlined quality assessment methods.

NCQA’s strategy is aligned with national and global initiatives that are driving the adoption of well-structured and comprehensive data systems. Organizations like the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) are mandating the use of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) to improve interoperability in healthcare systems. Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are advocating for the adoption of electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) within the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, leading to a continued emphasis on CQL and related requirements.

Advantages of Using CQL for HEDIS Digital Measures

Developed and maintained by NCQA, HEDIS (Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set) is a comprehensive set of standardized performance measures used to assess the quality of care and services provided by health plans and healthcare organizations. HEDIS digital measures refer to the digitalization of these performance measures, allowing them to be used in electronic health records (EHRs) and other digital health systems. These digital measures are designed to streamline data collection, reduce manual processes, and improve the accuracy and consistency of healthcare quality assessments. By using digital measures, healthcare organizations can more easily report their performance, enabling better benchmarking and comparisons across different systems and regions. Through this process, HEDIS digital measures play a crucial role in promoting high-quality, patient-centered care by providing reliable, standardized, and efficient tools for assessing and improving healthcare performance. The adoption of CQL offers several advantages for HEDIS digital measures:

Consistency Across Measures: CQL allows for a consistent approach to defining clinical quality measures, ensuring that HEDIS measures are uniformly interpreted and implemented. This consistency is crucial for reliable healthcare quality assessment.
Facilitating Automation: By using CQL, healthcare organizations can automate the extraction and analysis of administrative (claims) and clinical data for HEDIS measures. This automation not only speeds up the process but also reduces the risk of errors associated with manual data handling.
Scalability and Adaptability: CQL's flexible and expressive language allows for complex clinical logic, making it easier to update or create new HEDIS measures as healthcare needs evolve. This adaptability ensures that HEDIS remains relevant in a rapidly changing healthcare landscape.
Enhanced Interoperability: CQL's design is aimed at promoting interoperability among various health IT systems. This feature helps ensure that HEDIS digital measures can be implemented across different platforms, improving data sharing and collaboration between healthcare providers.
Transparency and Accessibility: Since CQL is human-readable, it enhances the transparency of HEDIS measures. Clinicians and other stakeholders can more easily understand the criteria behind quality assessments, promoting a clearer understanding of quality standards.

Examples of CQL in Action with HEDIS Measures

Breast Cancer Screening: This HEDIS measure evaluates the percentage of women aged 50-74 who have had a mammogram within a specific timeframe. A CQL engine would retrieve data on patient demographics, mammogram records, and the relevant time range. It would then apply the clinical logic to determine whether each patient meets the screening criteria. Diabetes Care - HbA1c Testing: This measure assesses whether patients with diabetes have received an HbA1c test within a certain period. A CQL engine would extract data on patients diagnosed with diabetes and check for records of HbA1c tests. It would then calculate the percentage of patients who meet the criteria for the measure.

About CQL Engines and How They Work

What is a CQL Engine?

A CQL engine is an implementation of the CQL specification that has the capability to execute clinical quality logic. This logic may initially be authored as human-readable CQL but needs to be rendered as machine-readable ELM before execution. The CQL engine processes CQL expressions to evaluate clinical data and perform automated healthcare-related tasks. Clinical and administrative data is input into the CQL engine, which uses the instructions in the CQL script to compute quality measures, apply clinical decision rules and derive outcomes.

How Does the CQL Engine Calculate Measure Outcomes?

The process of calculating measure outcomes with a Clinical Quality Language (CQL) engine involves several steps, from interpreting the measure's criteria to deriving the final result. Here is a breakdown of the process: [GRAPHIC 2]

Typical Use Cases for CQL Engines in Healthcare

CQL engines have various use cases in healthcare, particularly in the context of quality measurement and clinical decision support. Some examples are:

Quality Measurement: CQL engines can process quality measures, such as those found in HEDIS, to assess healthcare providers' and plans' performance against standardized metrics. For example, CQL can help determine if a patient meets specific quality measures, such as whether they received recommended screenings or vaccinations within a certain timeframe.
Clinical Decision Support: CQL can assist healthcare providers in making clinical decisions by analyzing patient data to identify potential risks, such as flagging drug interactions or alerting providers to potential gaps in care based on clinical guidelines.
Population Health Management: CQL can be used to analyze population health data to identify trends, risk factors and opportunities for intervention, such as identifying at-risk populations for targeted outreach or preventive care programs.
Risk Stratification: CQL can help stratify patients based on their risk levels for certain conditions or adverse outcomes, enabling providers to prioritize resources and interventions for those most in need.
Treatment Pathway Adherence: CQL can assess whether patients are adhering to recommended treatment pathways or protocols, such as determining if patients with chronic conditions are receiving appropriate medications and follow-up care.
Research and Analytics: CQL engines can be used to analyze large datasets to extract insights related to patient outcomes, treatment effectiveness and other healthcare research topics.
Regulatory Compliance: CQL engines can help healthcare organizations demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements by providing a standardized way to evaluate and report clinical data.

What is the Difference Between a Measure Engine and a CQL Engine?

A measure engine and a Clinical Quality Language (CQL) engine serve similar functions in the context of healthcare quality assessment, but they differ in terms of their specific roles, flexibility, and underlying technology. Measure engines are tailored for specific predefined measures, while CQL engines offer greater adaptability and can be used in a broader range of healthcare applications. The table below provides a comparison between the two:

	MEASURE ENGINE	CQL ENGINE
OVERVIEW	A measure engine is a software system designed to calculate healthcare quality measures. It typically uses predefined algorithms or scripts to evaluate clinical data and generate outcomes based on specific quality metrics. Measure engines are often closely tied to specific sets of quality measures and may have limited flexibility in adapting to new or modified measures.	A CQL engine is a software system specifically designed to interpret and execute CQL scripts, which define clinical logic and quality criteria. It has a broader scope, as it can process complex clinical logic and is not limited to predefined quality measures. CQL engines are more flexible and can be used for a wide range of applications beyond quality measurement, such as clinical decision support.
FLEXIBILITY	Measure engines are generally tied to specific quality measures and may require significant reconfiguration or updates to support new measures.	CQL engines are inherently more flexible because they can interpret and execute custom CQL scripts.
SCOPE	Measure engines are primarily focused on calculating predefined quality measures.	CQL engines can be used for various applications, including clinical decision support, quality measurement and research.
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE	Measure engines may use custom scripts, proprietary logic or hardcoded algorithms.	CQL engines rely on the Clinical Quality Language, which is human-readable and standardized by Health Level Seven International (HL7).
TYPICAL USE CASE	Measure engines are commonly used in healthcare organizations that need to calculate specific quality measures, such as HEDIS metrics. They are well-suited for environments with a defined set of measures where flexibility is not a primary concern.	CQL engines are ideal for applications requiring flexibility and customization. They are used in scenarios where complex clinical logic needs to be applied, such as clinical decision support, research and custom quality measure development. CQL engines are also suitable for organizations that need to support evolving quality measures or integrate with multiple data sources.
INTEGRATION	Both types of engines integrate with clinical data sources, such as electronic health records (EHRs), to retrieve patient information and perform evaluations.
CALCULATION	Both engines calculate outcomes based on defined clinical criteria, whether derived from a predefined quality measure or a custom CQL script.
AUTOMATION	Both measure engines and CQL engines aim to automate quality assessment and clinical logic processing, providing efficient and consistent results.

Steps for Organizational Preparation for CQL Engine Implementation

Implementing CQL represents a significant change for any organization, impacting workflows, processes, and systems. To navigate this transition smoothly and minimize disruptions to daily operations, it is essential to perform a comprehensive assessment, plan strategically and develop a robust change management plan. A few steps in this process are:

Assess Current Systems: Evaluate your existing systems and workflows to identify areas where CQL implementation would be beneficial.
Training and Education: Provide training sessions for relevant staff to familiarize them with CQL concepts, syntax and implementation procedures.
Data Standardization: Ensure that your data is standardized and structured in a way that aligns with CQL requirements to facilitate smooth integration.
Testing Environment: Set up a testing environment to experiment with CQL queries and ensure they function as expected before deploying them in a production environment.
Change Management: Implement a change management plan to guide the transition to CQL and minimize disruptions to daily operations.
Documentation and Communication: Document all steps taken during the preparation phase and communicate them clearly to relevant stakeholders.

Teams and Expertise Required for Transition

By involving key stakeholders, ensuring the necessary expertise and providing access to training and certification resources, organizations can enhance the success of their CQL transition and maximize the benefits of using CQL for data querying and analysis. Identifying Key Stakeholders and Teams for CQL Transition:

Executive Sponsorship: Ensure that there is executive sponsorship from leadership to drive the CQL transition and allocate necessary resources.
IT Department: Involve IT professionals who are responsible for managing and maintaining the organization's systems, databases and software applications.
Data Management Team: Include members of the data management team who have expertise in data governance, data modeling and data architecture.
Analytics Team: Engage analysts and data scientists who will be utilizing CQL for querying and analyzing data to derive insights and make data-driven decisions.
Clinical and Subject Matter Experts: If applicable, involve clinicians or subject matter experts who can provide domain-specific knowledge and ensure that CQL queries align with clinical or operational requirements.
Quality Assurance Team: Incorporate members of the quality assurance team who can test CQL queries and ensure their accuracy and reliability.

Expertise Needed for Successful Implementation:

CQL Proficiency: Individuals involved in CQL implementation should have a strong understanding of CQL syntax, semantics and best practices.
Database Management Skills: Proficiency in database management systems (DBMS) and SQL is essential for manipulating and querying data effectively.
Programming Skills: Basic programming skills, such as knowledge of scripting languages like Python or R, may be beneficial for automating tasks or integrating CQL with other systems.
Data Modeling: Expertise in data modeling concepts and techniques is important for designing databases and structuring data in a way that facilitates efficient querying with CQL.
Domain Knowledge: Depending on the organization's industry or sector, domain-specific knowledge may be required to understand the context and requirements for CQL queries.

Community Support and Vendor Selection

Community Support for CQL Engines The Clinical Quality Language (CQL) community encompasses a wide range of stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, developers, standards organizations and health IT companies. This community is focused on supporting the use of CQL for healthcare quality measurement, clinical decision support and other related applications. The community provides resources, knowledge sharing and collaborative opportunities to advance the adoption and implementation of CQL. Support resources for CQL engines within this community typically include:

Documentation and Guides: Comprehensive documentation, including standards, specifications and user guides, is available to help users understand and implement CQL in various contexts.
Educational Resources: The community offers webinars, training sessions and online courses to educate healthcare professionals and developers about CQL and its applications.
Technical Support: Organizations involved in developing CQL engines, whether open-source or proprietary, often provide technical support to assist with implementation and troubleshooting.

For organizations interested in building, maintaining or enhancing CQL engines that support quality use cases, NCQA has established the Digital Quality Implementers Community to create consistency and confidence in the implementation of CQL standard engines.

Do You Need to Switch Vendors?

Evaluating the need to switch vendors is a significant decision for any organization. If your current vendor does not support CQL or lacks the necessary features for CQL implementation, it may be necessary to switch to a vendor that does. Check out the following sections for questions that you should be asking your current vendors or considerations to keep in mind when selecting a new CQL engine technology partner.

Questions for Existing Vendors

Reach out to your current vendor's support or sales team directly to inquire about CQL support. Some questions that will help you assess their readiness to accommodate CQL implementations are as follows:

CQL Support: Inquire about the level of support they offer for CQL implementation, including any dedicated resources or assistance available.
Compatibility: Ask if their current software versions are compatible with CQL engines.
Integration: Discuss how seamless the integration process will be between their products and CQL engines.
Timeline: Determine the estimated timeline for implementing CQL with their products and any dependencies involved.
Case Studies: Explore whether there are any case studies or examples of other organizations successfully implementing CQL with the same vendor's products.
Updates and Upgrades: Seek clarification on how future updates or upgrades from the vendor might impact CQL implementation and compatibility.

New Vendor Selection: Choosing the Right CQL Engine Technology Partner

Listed below are some criteria that will help organizations make an informed decision when selecting a CQL engine technology partner that aligns with their needs and goals.

- Experience: Look for vendors with extensive experience in developing and implementing CQL engines, preferably with a proven track record of successful implementations.
- Vendor Reputation and References: Research the vendor's reputation in the industry and their track record with previous clients. Ask for references or case studies from the vendor to assess their capabilities and expertise in CQL technology.
- Demonstrations and Prototypes: Request demonstrations or prototypes of the CQL engine to evaluate its features, performance and usability firsthand.
- Compatibility and Ease of Integration: Ensure that the CQL engine is compatible with your existing systems and infrastructure, as well as with industry standards.

Community and Support: Evaluate the size and activity level of the CQL engine's community, as well as the availability of documentation, tutorials and support resources.

Health Insurance Plan Ratings

NCQA Releases 2025 Health Plan Ratings

Subscribe to Quality Matters

Get updates, announcements and trending topics