For Measure 159 Numerator:  I have identified persons who meet all Denominator criteria including PHQ 9 scores > 9 with no exclusions.

For the Numerator, if no clinical provider/patient encounters exist – in-person or telehealth – to document a PHQ 9 in the powerchart for the Measure Assessment Period, would these individuals qualify to be included in this measure’s Denominator?

For example, a person meets all the specification's Initial Population/Denominator criteria as of 1/10/2023. The last documented clinical encounter in the powerchart was 2/25/2023. There are no further documented clinical encounters.  The calculated Measure Assessment Period would be 12/07/2023 thru 4/07/2024.  Since there are no documented clinical interactions since 2/25/2023, there are no clinical interactions available to look for a PHQ 9 during the MAP.  Without an available clinical interaction to do a PHQ 9 for the Measure Assessment Period, is it an automatic "Not Met Not Done?" 

Or, does the absence of any clinical interactions for the measure assessment period, exclude said persons from being able to participate in the measure?