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.
To meet criterion QI 11 a practice must first establish a baseline for a patient experience measure and then set goals and take actions to improve upon this measure. Qualitative measures can be used if the qualitative feedback can be measured and the baseline can be compared to any improvement. An example of this may be the practice trying to reduce the total number of negative feedback responses they receive through a suggestion box pertaining to wait times by 50%.
PCMH 2017
The intent behind the high cost/high utilization category is that the practice is actively measuring the total cost of services or how much utilization occurs. A diagnosis of a condition may not be used as a proxy for high cost/high utilization. For instance, measuring the number of patients with uncontrolled asthma would not count under high cost/high utilization, but if those patients have multiple ER visits per year, this would be considered high utilization.
PCMH
No, organization or health system involvement in a benchmarked/ performance-based recognition program will not meet. For KM 13, the practice must participate in an external recognition program that assesses the practice or clinician-level performance, using a common set of specifications to benchmark results. The external recognition program should also publicly report results and have a process to validate measure integrity.
PCMH 2017
No, connection to an HIE or RHIO alone would not meet the intent of TC 03. A PCMH collaborative activity must be external to practice, involve multiple practices, be ongoing (not a short-term activity), cover multiple aspects of patient-centered care, and involve some level of collaboration between practices to learn and share best practices with their peers. Connection to an HIE or RHIO may help the practice meet elective criterion CC21A.
PCMH 2017
If a PA or an APRN shares a panel of patients with a physician then that team would be considered a solo site since all patients are assigned to the primary provider with a single panel.
If the PA or APRNs that have their own panel of patients and can be selected as a patient’s primary care clinician, the site would not be considered a solo site.
PCMH 2017
By “regular business hours,” NCQA means 8 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday. The practice determines its hours of operation. Offering appointments between 7am and 4pm meets the criterion. The intent is that practices provide appointments outside typical business hours, to accommodate patients’ access needs. A practice could also shift staff hours—some staff work from 7 am-4 pm weekdays; some staff work from 8 am-5 pm weekdays—to enhance access.
PCMH 2017
Reports submitted for QI often outline a lot of information (baseline performance, goals, actions, and remeasurements) that must be carefully reviewed. By uploading the documents ahead of the virtual review, it gives the Evaluator time to review the data and note areas for clarification.
PCMH
The evidence must specifically reflect the practice’s patient population. Standalone practices whose PFAC only includes patients and family members from the practice may use it to meet QI 04B. For practices that are a part of an organization with other primary care practices under the same umbrella, a shared PFAC would not meet QI 04B. While an organization with a shared PFAC in most cases cannot use it as evidence for QI 04B, it may be used it to demonstrate shared evidence to meet elective criteria TC 04 (2 credits) and QI 17 (2 credits).
PCMH 2017
No, increasing survey response rate is important in obtaining more representative patient feedback, but would not meet the intent of QI 08 or AR QI 03. The response rate is part of the platform for obtaining the feedback, while the measure for these criteria should be improving the feedback itself.
PCMH 2017
No, neither secure, electronic fax noR secure email would meet the intent of CM 09. For CM 09, the practice must demonstrate its capability to make their patient's care plans available securely to other care settings, such as hospitals, specialists, or other care facilities that could be managing patient care. This availability should be at the time the patient is seen, including after hours, and as such should not involve reaching out to the practice for the information to be sent. The way in which this care plan is shared may vary and NCQA is not prescriptive, but examples include sharing care plans via shared medical records, HIEs or other shared systems that enable staff from different care settings to view the patient's care plan for continuity and optimal care coordination while the patient receives care from multiple settings.
PCMH 2017
Participating in an HIE can help practices demonstrate PCMH criteria; however, connection alone does not demonstrate the evidence needed to meet the following criteria. Practices must demonstrate how they use the HIE to meet each criterion. Utilization of an HIE could help meet the following criteria:
PCMH Criteria | NYS PCMH | |
AC 12(2 Credits) | Continuity of Medical Record Information | ✔ |
CM 09(1 Credit) | Care Plan Integration | ✔ |
CC 15(Core) | Sharing Clinical information |
|
CC 17(1 Credit) | Acute Care After-Hours Communication |
|
CC 18(1 Credit) | Information Exchange During Hospitalization |
|
CC 19(1 Credit) | Patient Discharge Summaries | ✔ |
CC 21(Maximum 3 Credits) | External Electronic Exchange of Information | ✔ |
PCMH 2017
