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Practice Fusion · Feb 3, 2014

Resources to understand CQMs for PQRS and Meaningful Use

If you’re interested in learning more about clinical quality measures (CQMs) that are used for Meaningful Use and the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) in 2014, check out the below slides, including “PQRS Reporting in 2013,” “Using Practice Fusion for PQRS EHR Reporting in 2014,” “Measuring & Monitoring Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) Using Practice Fusion,” and “Understanding the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) Requirements in 2014.”

Check back often for new resources that can help you understand and implement quality improvement programs in your practice, and sign up for your Practice Fusion EHR here.

Which clinical quality measures (CQMs) does Practice Fusion support?

Practice Fusion currently supports the following clinical quality measures:

  • CMS165v1: Controlling High Blood Pressure
  • CMS156v1: Use of High-Risk Medications in the Elderly
  • CMS138v1: Preventive Care and Screening: Tobacco Use: Screening and Cessation Intervention
  • CMS130v1: Colorectal Cancer Screening
  • CMS166v1: Use of Imaging Studies for Low Back Pain
  • CMS131v1: Diabetes: Eye Exam
  • CMS123v1: Diabetes: Foot Exam
  • CMS122v1: Diabetes: Hemoglobin A1c Poor Control
  • CMS2v1: Preventive Care and Screening: Screening for Clinical Depression and Follow-Up Plan
  • CMS68v1: Documentation of Current Medications in the Medical Record
  • CMS69v1: Preventive Care and Screening: Body Mass Index (BMI) Screening and Follow-Up
  • CMS50v1: Closing the referral loop: receipt of specialist report
  • CMS90v1: Functional status assessment for complex chronic conditions

Read more about these CQMs in the Meaningful Use Center

How are CQMs calculated in Practice Fusion?
Practice Fusion calculates clinical quality measures using the measure specifications and measure logic that is determined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). You can monitor your progress on the CQMs by using the Practice Fusion 2014 Clinical Quality Measure report. The CQM report available in your EHR displays the denominator, numerator, exclusions/exceptions, and over percentage rate for each measure. Get detailed descriptions of how these CQMs are calculated in our CQM calculation guide.

What do I do if the CQMs don’t apply to my specialty?
The Meaningful Use program does not require that providers have specific values or thresholds for the purposes of reporting CQMs during MU attestation. The current set of measures are part of the CMS Adult Recommended CQM set, which is targeted at internal medicine and primary care specialties. Providers in other specialties may find that not all of the measures are relevant to their scope of practice, however, there are some measures that can be used by providers from a large number of specialties, including “Documentation of Current Medications.”

If you do not see patients who meet any of the CQM denominator criteria, you will see zero values in the CQM report for the denominator. If you see patients who meet the CQM denominator criteria, but do not complete the numerator criteria because it does not meet your scope of practice, you will see denominator values but continue to see zeros for the numerator.

When you complete the core and menu measure requirements for Meaningful Use and are ready to attest, you will need to choose 9 measures that cover at least 3 of the National Quality Strategy domains (domain categories are listed in the CQM report) and manually type in the CQM values exactly as they appear in the EHR. Reporting zero values will not prevent you from achieving Meaningful Use and receiving an incentive payment.

Can I report PQRS through Practice Fusion in 2014?
Practice Fusion, as an EHR vendor, supports the reporting requirements necessary for reporting PQRS via the EHR reporting mechanism. This involves collecting and calculating CQM data exactly as CMS and the ONC have required EHR vendors to collect and calculate data.

We recognize that there are other PQRS reporting options, such as claims-based reporting (using G-Codes) and registry reporting. Providers who choose to report PQRS via claims or registry will need to meet those requirements outside of the EHR. If you choose to report via claims a measure that is supported in the EHR, you can monitor your progress and see which patients meet the measure criteria. Read more about PQRS in the Knowledgebase.

Additional resources on Clinical Quality Measures:

Additional resources on Physician Quality Reporting System: