​Thank you for your inquiry regarding CMS2v10: Preventive Care and Screening: Screening for Depression and Follow-Up Plan. We convene a measure expert work group (EWG) annually to review evidence for consideration in the Annual Update for the measure. Specific to performance year 2023, the EWG has already met and did not recommend any changes regarding the denominator exception and the ICD-10 codes used for medical reasons. We appreciate your feedback regarding expanding the types of exclusions documented in the "Medical Reason" (2.16.840.1.113883.3.526.3.1007) value set, and we will evaluate the appropriateness of adding the suggested codes with our EWG during the next Annual Update cycle.

CMS2v10 Depression Screening and Follow up denominator exception allows for documentation of medical reason for not screening a patient for depression (e.g., cognitive, functional, or motivational limitations that may impact accuracy of results; patient is in an urgent or emergent situation where time is of the essence and to delay treatment would jeopardize the patient's health status). Would CMS consider adding ICD10 codes to allow care teams to more easily meet the exception for patients who have medical reasons such as dementia, genetic disorders associated with intellectual or functional delays, etc? The measure’s exceptions would then function similar to the denominator exclusions for frailty in the CMS130v9 Colorectal Cancer Screening measure or the ICD10 codes for CMS159v9 Depression Remission at 12 Months denominator exclusions 5-7, currently included within value sets. Reference: https://ecqi.healthit.gov/ecqm/ep/2021/cms159v9