By Ashley Hain, Alex Baker, Kyle Cobb, and Matthew Rahn, ONC
Twitter:Â @ONC_HealthIT
ONC recently released the draft USCDI+ Quality data element list for public comment on the eCQI Resource Center website. This release provides an initial, high-level picture of the USCDI+ initiative in action. It is a harmonized set of data elements for quality measurement that could be used to support measurement and reporting across a wide number of quality programs. ONC requests feedback on this draft list by 11:59pm ET on June 30, 2023, particularly its level of completeness, level of specificity, and the usefulness of companion guidance.
The draft USCDI+ Quality is the most recent milestone for the USCDI+ initiative, which supports our federal agency partners to build on the USCDI standard adopted by ONC in 2020 and was first described in this blog from October 2021. The draft USCDI+ Quality includes data elements in the USCDI; however, as a core data set, the USCDI standard itself does not include each data element needed for quality measurement use cases. Through USCDI+ Quality, ONC is seeking to extend from the USCDI model to establish a consistent baseline of harmonized data elements for a wide range of CMS and other quality measurement use cases. Once mature, the USCDI+ Quality data element list can inform technical specifications and implementation guidance needed to enable more flexible, modernized, and robust approaches to standardizing and sharing data.
The draft data element list reflects input ONC and CMS have gathered from a variety of sources, starting with electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) currently used in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality reporting programs. ONC is collaborating closely with CMS to ensure USCDI+ Quality informs and facilitates CMS’ goal to transition from the agency’s current approach to electronic quality reporting to Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®)-based quality reporting using digital quality measures (dQMs). Under the dQM initiative, CMS aims to make quality measurement more meaningful for clinicians and other health care providers, while reducing the administrative burden associated with the current quality reporting enterprise. CMS recently posted a number of new resources about dQMs on the eCQI Resource Center, including a revised definition of a digital quality measure and supplemental reference briefs describing how data standards facilitate the exchange of information.
Specifically, the draft USCDI+ Quality data element list includes data needed to represent eCQMs used in CMS’ Inpatient Quality Reporting program and Quality Payment Program in FHIR; the release also includes a detailed mapping between the draft USCDI+ Quality and these measures. Ultimately, ONC and CMS plan to use these data elements to inform updates to the clinical quality measurement certification criteria in the ONC Health IT Certification Program and implementation guides that support reporting to CMS programs.
While existing CMS quality reporting programs represent a key anchor for USCDI+ Quality, the USCDI+ Quality Domain reflects a broader effort to support collection and harmonization of quality measure data elements for the extended quality community, including specialty registries, payers, quality improvement organizations, and quality improvement models. The USCDI+ Quality data element list also reflects data elements gathered from a number of draft and published Health Level Seven International® FHIR Implementation Guides (IG) for various use cases, such as long-term and post-acute care, oncology, and federally qualified health center reporting requirements. Finally, ONC held a series of discussions with organizations in the public and private sector involved in measure development, measure evaluation, and quality reporting, to go beyond the current specifications in eCQMs to identify high priority data elements for inclusion in the draft data element list for USCDI+ Quality.
Public comments on the draft USCDI+ Quality data elements list will be accepted until June 30, 2023, by 11:59 pm ET. This updated deadline extends the comment period by about two weeks. (For a more detailed overview of the USCDI+ Quality data element list and specific feedback we seek, please refer to the USCDI+ Quality – Preliminary Data Element List Guide.) If you have any questions and prefer to send them via email, please contact USCDI.Plus@hhs.gov. Look for more news and developments on other aspects of the USCDI+ program later this summer.
This post was originally published on the Health IT Buzz and is syndicated here with permission.