Thank you for your inquiry regarding CMS2v11, Preventive Care and Screening: Screening for Depression and Follow-Up Plan. Per the measure specification, eligible patients require a depression screening and follow-up plan (if applicable) in order to meet performance for this measure. Only patients who meet denominator exclusion or denominator exception criteria will be omitted from this requirement. Patients who have been diagnosed with depression or bipolar disorder at any time prior to the qualifying encounter meet denominator exclusion criteria. Patients meet denominator exception criteria if the provider documents that the patient declined to participate as per the “Patient Declined” valueset (OID: 2.16.840.1.113883.3.526.3.1582) or a medical reason for not screening the patient for depression, as contained in the “Medical Reason” valueset (OID: 2.16.840.1.113883.3.526.3.1007). All codes for both of these denominator exceptions are viewable by making a free account on the Value Set Authority Center at https://vsac.nlm.nih.gov/welcome . This is a patient-based measure, meaning that the depression screening is required once per measurement period, not at all encounters. However, if multiple screenings do occur during the measurement period, patients may still meet the numerator should they be screened for depression (and receive follow-up if applicable) at a separate denominator-eligible encounter.

Good afternoon, Our project team received the inquiry below from an external partner regarding the following measure: Preventive Care and Screening: Screening for Depression and Follow-Up Plan (CMS2v11). We would appreciate any insight your team is able to provide on this inquiry. Thank you! Tara