NCQA seeks feedback on HEDIS ICD-10 plan
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is requesting public comment on its Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) ICD-10 code conversion plan.
Anticipating the Oct. 1, 2014 compliance date for ICD-10, NCQA spent three years creating the 793-page plan to identify a valid and appropriate set of ICD-10 codes for each HEDIS measure in time for its inclusion in the HEDIS 2015 publications. With the plan completed, the committee now seeks public comment on all of the final recommendations for converting ICD-9 to ICD-10 codes in HEDIS measures.
Given the extensiveness of the plan, NCQA is giving reviewers until Dec. 16 to provide comments and suggestions. For more information on submitting comments, go here.
Relatedly, on July 3, NCQA released the 2014 edition of technical specifications for HEDIS, which incorporates one new measure and implements changes to several existing measures. The new measure, “Non-Recommended Cervical Cancer Screening in Adolescent Females,” measures the percentage of adolescent females ages 16 to 20 who are unnecessarily screened for cervical cancer.
The 2014 edition also includes changes to the following measures: breast cancer screening; cervical cancer screening; care for older adults; potential drug disease interaction in the elderly; and relative resource use. More specifics are available in the publication, which is accessible here.