Submitted by jpatterson@mitre.org on
PACIO Recommends ASHA FCMs as an Applicable Vocabulary Standard
- Data Class: Health Status Assessments
- Data Element: Functional Status and Mental/Cognitive Status (Draft V6)
- Recommendation: Expand the definitions of Functional Status and Mental/Cognitive Status data elements to include the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Functional Communication Measures (FCMs) that have assigned LOINC codes.
- Rationale: The PACIO Project Community* recommends including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Functional Communication Measures (FCMs) that have been assigned LOINC codes, e.g., 99836-9 and 99844-3, in the definitions of the Functional Status and Mental/Cognitive Status data elements to demonstrate the capability in each of these domains for capturing communication specific health information. The FCMs are the discipline standard for speech, language, and hearing assessments and are part of a National Outcomes Measurement System (NOMS) that includes data since initial collection started in 1998 and has been recommended by CMS for use by speech language pathologists in 2007. In 2013, ASHA launched a new version of NOMS to help report functional outcomes to support compliance with CMS requirements to “report all outcomes data on all Medicare Part B beneficiaries receiving speech-language services”. Given the importance of the NOMS, which includes FCMs, in assessing patients with speech and language needs, as well as alignment of NOMS with CMS requirements (along with CMS recommendations to use NOMS), including the definitions of Functional Status and Mental/Cognitive Status would be in line with the data that are already being collected systematically. This would help support interoperability of systems used by organizations already collecting these data.
- These data are captured under both Functional Status and Cognitive Status as part of a published FHIR IG titled Personal Functioning and Engagement v 1.0.0, and in another FHIR IG currently in ballot under the same title v 2.0.0, compliant with US Core 6.1.0.
- * The PACIO (Post-Acute Care Interoperability) Project, established February 2019, is a collaborative effort between industry, government, and other stakeholders, with the goal of establishing a framework for the development of FHIR implementation guides to facilitate health information exchange.
Submitted by jpatterson@mitre.org on
PACIO Recommends ICF as an Applicable Vocabulary Standard