This issue has been addressed in the 2017 Annual Update.

Hello,
I’ve received the same email, back to back since 12:53pm. I am up to 17 emails in 3 minutes.

Along with the comment above, Kaiser Permanente recommends aligning this BP eCQM measure with the NCQA HEDIS CBP measure, which would include patients
1) members 18-59 years of age whose BP was < 140/90 mm Hg
2) members 60-95 years of age WITH a diagnosis of Diabetes whose BP was < 140/90 mm Hg
3) members 60-95 years of age WITHOUT a diagnosis of Diabetes whose BP was < 150/90 mm Hg

Please align this measure with this NCQA HEDIS Measure for consistency and reduction of burden in reporting.

Response:

CMS has not adopted the revised HEDIS controlling high blood pressure measure for use in its programs and models and has no immediate plans to do so. NCQA’s HEDIS Controlling High Blood Pressure measure is based on recommendations from the “2014 Evidence-Based Guideline for the Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: Report From the Panel Members Appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee.”

We would like to request that the Hypertension QIM be limited to ages 18-59 with the current guidelines. To align better with clinical best practices that establish a threshold for the population between 60-85 with a BP <150/90, this population would be excluded from the measure.

Response:

CMS has not adopted the revised HEDIS controlling high blood pressure measure for use in its programs and models and has no immediate plans to do so. NCQA’s HEDIS Controlling High Blood Pressure measure is based on recommendations from the “2014 Evidence-Based Guideline for the Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: Report From the Panel Members Appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee.”

Draft measure comments:
CMS-117
For the QDM variable $HIBVaccine, the immunization uses < 730 days. This should be <= 730 days like the procedure in the HIB variable.
There are four doses of the $IPVVaccine used in the measure, when it should only be 3 according to the measure description.

Less of a functional comment, but CMS-147 uses several different QDM categories, including immunization allergy and substance allergy, to indicate a patient is allergic to an immunization. CMS-117 currently only uses the diagnosis category, and it may be better if these two were aligned.

Response:
We will update the timing for HIB vaccine to "<=730 days."

We will update the IPV vaccine logic to make sure only 3 vaccines are included.

The immunization allergy and substance allergy categories are too broad because they include rashes and other minimal reactions. The only reason the patient should not receive the full series of shot is due to an anaphylactic reaction.​

CMS 347
In the numerator, it could make sense to have the "Medication Active" elements as an occurrence, (in the UNION of AND NOT: Union of).
An active medication might not count if there was a different active medication that ended during the year.

The guidance says that the each population is distinct. If the patient has the Hypercholesterolemia data element, they could be in both population 2 and population 3.
The guidance for population 2 and 3 says to report the highest value for the LDL, so maybe using the QDM function "Max", but this isn't required in the logic. I think it should include the QDM function "Max" to guarantee the greatest value is reported.

Response: We thank you for your feedback and will incorporate your suggestions into the measure logic.

CMS-645.
Right now there is no requirement that the ADT medication active be during the measurement period. It can be at any time before or after, as long as it starts after the beginning of the prostate cancer diagnosis, and overlaps the procedure order (and the procedure order has no timing requirements).
I think these data elements should reference the measurement period in some way.

Response: Thanks for your comment. The medication is tied to the Diagnosis of the Prostate CA which must be active during the measurement period.