Yes, the FVA measure will be publicly reported for the Medicaid product line for HEDIS 2015.
HEDIS 2015
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.
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 this page.
Print this page.
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.
HEDIS 2015
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.
HEDIS 2015
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.
HEDIS 2015
Although the two diagnoses are clinically different, hypertensive retinopathy is not treated differently from diabetic retinopathy for the CDC measure. The intent of the eye exam indicator is to ensure that members with evidence of any type of retinopathy have an eye exam annually, while members who remain free of retinopathy (i.e., the retinal exam was negative for retinopathy) are screened every other year. If it is clear that a retinal or dilated eye exam was performed by an eye care professional in the year prior to the measurement year and there is documentation indicating that the member is negative for hypertensive retinopathy, this can count as compliant.
HEDIS 2015
To determine if a stay should be excluded, identify the index hospitalization and the FIRST readmission (if there is one). If the FIRST readmission was planned for, drop the index.
So, for example 2:
	Stay 1. Index hospitalization with unplanned readmission (stay 2): Include as index.
	Stay 2. Index hospitalization with planned readmission (stay 3): Drop as index.
	Stay 3. Index hospitalization with planned readmission (stay 4): Drop as index.
	Stay 4. Index hospitalization with no readmission: Include as index.
Stay 1 is the index. Stay 2 is the first readmission to assess, but because it does not meet criteria for a “planned hospital stay,” stay 1 is not excluded.
HEDIS 2015
No, if a problem list is found in an office visit note then it would be considered a dated problem list and the date of the visit must be used. A true problem list is a standalone document in the medical record that records a member’s conditions. It is typically located in a centralized section of the medical record (usually the front of the chart) and lists all diagnoses. In an EHR a problem list is present at all routine office visits.
If the documentation is part of the member’s medical history, progress note or office visit note, the date of the visit must be used as the date of the HTN confirmation and must be on or before June 30 of the measurement year. The representative BP reading must occur after the date when the diagnosis of HTN was confirmed.
HEDIS 2015
No. Because of the delay in ICD-10 implementation, ICD-10 codes will not be used during the HEDIS 2015 measurement year (the 2014 calendar year) and therefore will not be included in the HEDIS 2015 Value Set Directory.
Purchasers of HEDIS 2015 technical specifications will receive a separate file with ICD-10 codes proposed for inclusion in future releases of HEDIS, but the codes will not be considered part of the 2015 measure specifications.
HEDIS 2014
Yes. Documentation of >99% or <1% may be used when reporting because an exact BMI percentile value is evident (i.e., 100% or 0%). These examples are not considered ranges or thresholds, which are not permitted when reporting the BMI percentile indicator. Examples of non-permitted ranges and thresholds are "75-80th percentile" and ">90th percentile" because the exact BMI percentile value is not evident.
HEDIS 2014
Members with an “active” prescription for osteoporosis treatment (Table OMW-C) during the 365 days prior to the IESD meet the step 4 exclusion criterion. The prescription does not need to be dispensed during the 365-day look-back period. NCQA does not specify how long organizations must look back prior to the IESD to identify an “active” prescription; organizations determine the look-back period, which should be applied consistently across all members.
HEDIS 2014