Submitted by NCQA on
NCQA Comment on Coverage Period: For USCDI v5
- Coverage Period:
NCQA recommends the inclusion of coverage period, the coverage start and end dates, in USCDI v5. This information is essential when sharing any other health insurance related information already included in USCDI for context about the coverage time period and supports assessments of patient access to resources and care, a stated ONC priority. Coverage period is also used widely in quality measurement to assign people appropriately to the measure population. This element is included in the US Core IG Coverage profile as must support.
Submitted by NCQA on
NCQA Comment on Smoking Status: for USCDI v5
NCQA recommends updating the element name to Tobacco-Use Assessment to encompass assessment of broader tobacco products beyond smoked products/cigarettes; This aligns with the FDA definition of Tobacco products. We also recommend adding to the examples of items that fall under this element quit date and smoking duration, in addition to the examples of pack-years and current use already included.
We recommend updating the terminology to include LOINC in addition to SNOMED. Smoking status, tobacco-use status, and smoking behavior details (i.e., pack-years) are well defined by LOINC and/or SNOMED.
Comprehensive assessment of tobacco-use and smoking behaviors remain a public health priority and are essential to appropriately providing cessation intervention. These data elements are also crucial for understanding a patient’s eligibility for lung cancer screenings, a screening that is recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and that remains underutilized despite its proven effectiveness. NCQA is currently developing measures to incentivize routine tobacco use assessments and appropriate lung cancer screening for those eligible based on smoking history.