For measures which are supposed to check for data elements 'before or during Measurement Period", what should be the look back period for the events that happened before the start of the measurement period?
E.g. for NQF 0018 Controlling High Blood Pressure, the Denominator Exclusion logic checks for presence of Dialysis or Kidney Transplant or ESRD that has happened before or during the measurement period.
How far back in the patient's record should we check for presence of these procedures?
Our certified system acts as a calculation engine on top of an EHR and thus needs to pull patient data only for a particular duration. Obviously, it's not practical to pull a Dialysis procedure for the patient which may have happened in 1986 - that means pulling ALL the procedures that ever existed in the EHR for that patient.
Is there a specific guidance to address this problem?