FAQ Directory

“Alternative clinical encounters” are scheduled clinical encounters between patient and clinician in lieu of a traditional, one-on-one, in-person office visit; for example:

• A scheduled telephone clinical visit.
• A scheduled clinical video chat visit.

PCMH 2017

No. AC 03 requires practices to offer appointments outside regular business hours for both routine and urgent care. Using the ED for after-hours care does not meet the requirement since patients cannot schedule and access routine appointments at the ED.

PCMH 2017

Yes. NCQA accepts telepsychiatry visits as an alternative clinical encounter if the behavioral healthcare practitioner is at least partially integrated with the practice site (i.e., sharing at least partial access to the same systems and patient records).

PCMH 2017

Yes. Practices may refer patients to associated urgent care sites or facilities (i.e., facilities with which the practice has a relationship or an agreement to work together) to meet AC 03, but must provide a documented process demonstrating how patients are referred to facilities for scheduled routine and urgent appointments. The facility must have access to patient medical records outside regular business hours.

PCMH 2017

No. The ACFP tool is a helpful resource for practices to use when considering and managing panel sizes. If the practice prefers to use another method that is perfectly acceptable if it performs the same function.
 

PCMH 2017

Yes, this meets the requirement if the telehealth provider is a clinician, provides a scheduled appointment and has access to practice systems and the patient’s medical record.

PCMH 2017

CM 01 focuses on the practice’s established criteria and systematic process for identifying patients in need of care management. Comprehensive risk stratification in CM 03 requires a more complex identification process than that of CM 01. CM 03 goes beyond simply establishing criteria and provides elective credit to practices that are using a risk assessment process to identify patients for care management, leveraging clinical data about the patients; it is about stratifying patients using all the factors that put the patient at higher risk and in need of assistance in managing their health. If a practice meets CM 03, it will automatically meet CM 01.
 

PCMH 2017

No. Tobacco use is an unhealthy behavior and is not considered a behavioral health condition. Practices need to identify behavioral health-related criteria pertinent to their specific patient population, which could include other (non-tobacco-related) substance use treatment, a behavioral health diagnosis, a positive screening result from a standardized behavioral health screener or psychiatric hospitalizations.
 

PCMH 2017

No. Practices must show appointment slots that are available for both urgent/acute and routine care, but may have a policy to accommodate patients with urgent/acute care needs first.

PCMH 2017

Yes, members of the clinical staff (including clinicians and nurses) providing clinical care to patients (based on pertinent licensing laws) may be scheduled for an alternative appointment with a patient. These appointments are in place of those scheduled in the physical office and provided by telephone or other technology supported mechanisms. Visits with social workers, nutritionists, educators or pharmacists alone without an accompanying staff member administering clinical care would not meet the intent of the criterion.

PCMH 2017

Yes, if the phone service can provide after-hours access (AC 04) and can access the patient’s medical record either directly or through an available on-call provider with direct access (AC 12).
 

PCMH 2017

The intent of AC 01 is to assess the access needs and preferences of the practice’s patient population. To identify the best way to obtain this information, practices may need to review how they are currently collecting patient feedback on access needs. For example, a patient survey may ask patients if they are able to get an appointment when needed; however, that question doesn't tell you when patients want to access the practice. The practice may be offering access when the majority of patients don't or aren't able to utilize it.
Practices should collect and assess the feedback from patients to see if there's a need to adjust the access provided to patients. Some questions to   consider include:

1. What data are you already collecting on patient access (e.g. surveys, use of appointments)? Is it current and does it cover the whole patient population?
2. How often do you need to assess the access needs of your patients?
3. What variables may impact changes in the use of appointment types?
4. If using patient satisfaction surveys, how many patients are actually responding? If the response rate is low, is there another mode of collecting feedback to get more input.
5. Do the questions on your survey ask patients directly about their access needs or preferences?

PCMH 2017