FAQ Directory

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.

Filter Results
  • Save
  • Email
  • Print

10.15.2018 Follow-Up After ED visit for People With Multiple High-Risk Chronic Conditions In Step 2 (Exclusions), ED visits followed by admission to an inpatient care setting on the date of the visit or within 7 days after the visit are excluded. Should ED visits that result in an inpatient stay (when the ED date of service occurs any time during the admission [admission date through discharge date]) also be excluded?

Yes. Exclude ED visits that result in an inpatient stay.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 2019

10.15.2018 Rules for Allowable Adjustments The General Guidelines in the Rules for Allowable Adjustments states, “use the separate HEDIS Adjustments VSD to calculate measure rates stemming from adjusted measure specification.” Does this mean that ONLY the HEDIS Adjustments VSD must be used?

No. The Allowable Adjustments VSD does not contain the standard HEDIS value sets; standard HEDIS value sets are in the HEDIS 2019 Volume 2 VSD. The Allowable Adjustments VSD includes only SNOMED and LOINC codes that are not in the Volume 2 VSD. Organizations collecting data using the rules for allowable adjustments can elect (but are not required) to use the value sets in the Allowable Adjustments VSD.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 2019

10.15.2018 Required Exclusions Are members who are excluded because of hospice, advanced illness, frailty, Institutional SNP (I-SNP) or living long-term in an institution (LTI) included in the “Number of required exclusions” data element?

No. Only members who meet the criteria in the section of the measure labeled “Required exclusions” are included when reporting the “Number of required exclusions” data element.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HEDIS 2019

10.15.2018 Avoidance of Antibiotic Treatment in Adults With Acute Bronchitis Should the “Numerator events by supplemental data” row be removed from the Data Elements Table in the Avoidance of Antibiotic Treatment in Adults With Acute Bronchitis (AAB) measure?

Yes. Remove the “Numerator events by supplemental data” row in the Data Elements Table.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
Exchange 2019

10.15.2018 Appropriate Treatment for Children With Upper Respiratory Infection Should the “Numerator events by supplemental data” row be removed from the Data Elements Table in the Appropriate Treatment for Children With Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) measure?

Yes. Remove the “Numerator events by supplemental data” row in the Data Elements Table.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
Exchange 2019

10.15.2018 Proportion of Days Covered Should the upper and lower Confidence Interval data elements be removed from the reporting tables in the Proportion of Days Covered (PDC) measure?

Yes. NCQA removed confidence intervals from all measures and data collection (IDSS) in HEDIS 2019; this applies to all related products using IDSS, including the QRS PDC measure.
Organizations that want to calculate or use confidence intervals must use the other data element fields and calculate confidence intervals for internal analysis.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
Exchange 2019

10.15.2018 Immunizations for Adolescents Are issuers required to report Combo 1 for the Quality Ratings System in the Immunizations for Adolescents (IMA) measure?

No. HEDIS for QRS requires collection of only Combination 2 and related antigens. Change the reference in the Description from “two combination rates” to “one combination rate.” In the Data Elements Table, change “Each of the 5 rates” to “Each of the 4 rates.”

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
Exchange 2019

10.15.2018 80% must-pass threshold for UM elements Because NCQA raised the UM must-pass threshold from 50% to 80%, will NCQA create an 80% scoring option for requirements without such a scoring option?

No. To keep scoring simple, NCQA set a threshold of 80% or higher for all UM must-pass elements, rather than setting a specific threshold for each element based on its scoring options. If an element does not have an 80% option, the “or higher” applies. Keep in mind that an organization may miss the requirements for a few files and still score 100% on the element. For additional information on file review scoring, refer to the scoring table in each element or to the file review worksheet in the Interactive Review Tool (IRT).

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
HP 2019|MBHO 2019|UM-CR-PN 2019

10.15.2018 Use of Imaging Studies for Low Back Pain Should the “Numerator events by supplemental data” row be removed from the Data Elements Table in the Use of Imaging Studies for Low Back Pain (LBP) measure?

Yes. Remove the “Numerator events by supplemental data” row in the Data Elements Table.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
Exchange 2019

10.12.2018 AC 10 & 11 Does a single clinician practice need to provide a documented process and report for AC 10 and AC 11 as all patients would be on the same panel and always see their selected clinician by default?

No, a single clinician practice may simply attest to having a single clinician. This can be done using the text box option of Q-PASS to receive credit for these criteria.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
PCMH 2017

10.12.2018 CC 06 For CC 06, is the practice required to include specialists' names on their list of commonly used specialists or is a list of just the commonly used specialty types acceptable (E.g., a list that says cardiology, ortho, endocrinology, etc.)?

The list should include the specialist office names or specialist's names in addition to their specialty types. The intent of CC 06 is for the practice to monitor its referral patterns and identify areas where it might improve care coordination (e.g., identifying clinicians most commonly referred to and ensuring that communication expectations are established for the relationship with those providers, like for CC 08). This criterion requires that the practice demonstrate how it monitors referral patterns, which could be a report showing referral trends.  

 

 

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
PCMH 2017

10.12.2018 AR-PH-1 (2018 Version) AR-KM 01 (2019 Version) Is it necessary to provide evidence in addition to affirming that we send out proactive reminders for all the necessary categories and noting the frequency?

No additional evidence is needed beyond answering the questions. Since all practices completing Annual Reporting have already shown detailed evidence previously during the transformation phase, Annual Reporting has reduced the administrative burden of maintaining recognition by reducing the amount of evidence that must be submitted.

This applies to the following Programs and Years:
PCMH 2017