Thank you for your question regarding Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis (CMS190v14). Boarding inpatients in the ICU will put those patients in the VTE-2 measure's denominator. Per the measure specifications, denominator inclusion is based on whether the patient had an ICU location during the encounter as captured using the 'facility location' data element. Encounter With ICU Location   VTE."Encounter With Age Range And Without VTE Diagnosis Or Obstetrical Conditions" QualifyingEncounter     where exists ( QualifyingEncounter.facilityLocations Location         where Location.code in "Intensive Care Unit"           and Location.locationPeriod during QualifyingEncounter.relevantPeriod   In the scenario described, if the patient is represented in the data as having an ICU location (e.g., due to transfer or boarding), the case will be included in the VTE-2 denominator, regardless of whether an order specifies ICU level of care or the EHR event log indicates “non-ICU.” The encounter should not include an ICU facility location value if ICU care was not provided. We recommend confirming whether these patients did NOT receive ICU level care. If they did not, we recommend re-mapping this unit location to the appropriate/proper location type to prevent non-ICU patients from being evaluated in the VTE-2 measure.

We had a recent VTE-2 CMS 190 case fail CMS validation because the chart documents did not support an ICU admission. The patient was transferred to an ICU location but the order did not specify a need for ICU level of care. Subsequently, we have identified other cases where the patient was transferred to ICU location and in accordance with specifications the logic qualifies the case for VTE-2. However, the order does not specify ICU level of care and our EHR event log shows level of care as "non-ICU". Do these cases qualify for VTE-2 (CMS 190)?