Yes, the FVA measure will be publicly reported for the Medicaid product line for HEDIS 2015.
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.
Your example is correct. We will amend the example in the specifications for the final release of the P4P manual on December 1, 2014.
For P4P reporting, the cervical cytology and HPV test dates must be four days or fewer apart during the measurement year or the four years prior to the measurement year. We do not specify that the date of the HPV test must be after the cervical cytology test; if cervical cytology is four days or less after an HPV test, it is acceptable.
You are correct: The draft P4P manual states that there are no modifications from HEDIS. The differences you see are the result of anticipated P4P changes and updates to the Volume 2 CHL measure, per the HEDIS 2015 Volume 2 Technical Update released on October 1, 2014, at www.ncqa.org.
The HEDIS technical update changes aligns the HEDIS CHL measure specifications and value sets with the September release of the P4P CHL measure and value sets. We included these updates in the September release of MY 2014 P4P to reduce the edits that P4P organizations must apply with the December release.
The logic for identifying a member with diabetes should be the same in CDC and CBPH: At least two ED visits are needed. The bullet on page 64 of the P4P manual was inadvertently placed in the “Event/diagnosis” section. The specification should read:
Claim/encounter data. Members who met any of the following criteria during the measurement year or the year prior to the measurement year (count services that occur over both years):
· At least two outpatient visits (Outpatient Value Set), observation visits (Observation Value Set), ED visits (ED Value Set) or nonacute inpatient encounters (Nonacute Inpatient Value Set) on different dates of service, with a diagnosis of diabetes (Diabetes Value Set). Visit type need not be the same for the two visits.
· At least one acute inpatient encounter (Acute Inpatient Value Set) with a diagnosis of diabetes (Diabetes Value Set).
This change will be reflected in the December release of the MY 2014 P4P Manual.
Organizations are not required to identify or confirm the diagnosis of diabetes through medical record review; only the hypertension diagnosis must be confirmed. Only administrative data should be used to assign the diabetes flag. The intent of the flag is to determine the appropriate BP threshold to use for the member during numerator assessment because the threshold for members with diabetes is different from the threshold for members without diabetes.
The only exception is if the member is flagged as a diabetic but medical record evidence contains information that classifies the member as a valid data error. To meet criteria as a valid data error, the medical record must contain no evidence of diabetes and include a notation that refutes the diagnosis, as described in Substituting Medical Records in the Guidelines for Calculations and Sampling. In this case, the diabetes flag may be changed to “not diabetic”, but the member may not be removed from the sample.
For certain elements with frequency or analysis requirements, (i.e., MEM 1 Element G; MEM 2 Element C; MEM 4 Element C; MEM 5 Element C; MEM 5 Element D; MEM 7 Element C, factors 3 and 5) the documentation requirement will be limited to a documented process for the Medicare, Medicaid and Marketplace product lines.
An NCQA-Accredited organization that received automatic accreditation via the Marketplace Add-On process may have the Marketplace product line reviewed against the First or Renewal Evaluation Option at the time of its Renewal Survey.
The organization must submit separate Survey Tools for an option other than a Renewal Survey.
The available accreditation statuses, elements reviewed and look-back periods are specified in the standards and guidelines for the selected Evaluation Option.
For First and Renewal Surveys, the accredited status is valid for up to 36 months.
An “active prescription” means that a member has a surplus of medication to take from a prescription dispensed previously. Therefore, in step 4 (required exclusions), the member is excluded if a prescription was dispensed during the 12 months prior to the IESD, or prior to that time frame if the member has remaining pills to take in the 12 months prior to the IESD.
Yes. HEDIS 2015 General Guideline 41 will be adapted for P4P and added to the final version of the MY 2014 P4P Manual, which will be released on December 1, 2014. The guideline, like HEDIS, will apply to the CDC HbA1c control indicators.
The optional exclusion criteria may be applied only if the member did not have a diagnosis of diabetes during the measurement year or the year prior to the measurement year. If the member was included in the measure based on claim or encounter data, as described in the event/diagnosis criteria, the optional exclusions do not apply because the member had a diagnosis of diabetes. If the member was included in the measure based on pharmacy data alone, the member may meet criteria for an optional exclusion if no diagnosis of diabetes was found in claim or encounter data or in the medical record.
For example, if a member was included in the measure based on pharmacy data but had a visit with a diagnosis of diabetes, the member does not meet optional exclusion criteria.
If a member was included in the measure based on pharmacy data alone and there was no claim or encounter with a diagnosis of diabetes, but medical record documentation indicated the member is a diabetic, the member does not meet optional exclusion criteria.
If a member was included in the measure based on pharmacy data alone and there was no claim or encounter with a diagnosis of diabetes and no evidence of diabetes in the medical record being reviewed, the member may meet optional exclusion criteria if there was a diagnosis of polycystic ovaries any time during the member’s history through December 31 of the measurement year, or a diagnosis of gestational diabetes or steroid-induced diabetes during the measurement year or the year prior to the measurement year.