Quality ID #93 (NQF 0654): Acute Otitis Externa (AOE): Systemic Antimicrobial Therapy – Avoidance of Inappropriate Use

—National Quality Strategy Domain: Efficiency and Cost Reduction

—Meaningful Measure Area: Appropriate Use of Healthcare

2022 COLLECTION TYPE:

MIPS CLINICAL QUALITY MEASURES (CQMS)

MEASURE TYPE:

Process – High Priority

DESCRIPTION:

Percentage of patients aged 2 years and older with a diagnosis of AOE who were not prescribed systemic antimicrobial therapy

INSTRUCTIONS:

This measure may be submitted based on the actions of the submitting Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinician who performs the quality action, described in the measure, based on services provided within measure-specific denominator coding. This measure is to be submitted once for each occurrence of AOE during the performance period. For the purpose of submitting this measure, only unique occurrences with an onset of AOE diagnosing within the current performance period will be submitted. A unique occurrence of AOE is defined as the period of time that begins with the onset of AOE diagnosing and ends 30 days after the onset of diagnosing.

Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinicians who submitted this measure may also find Quality ID #91: Acute Otitis Externa: Topical Therapy to be clinically relevant. The measure developer intended for Quality ID #91: Acute Otitis Externa: Topical Therapy and Quality ID #93: Acute Otitis Externa: Systemic Antimicrobial Therapy – Avoidance of Inappropriate Use to be paired measures, as they can both be implemented to measure care provided to patients diagnosed with diffuse, uncomplicated AOE.

NOTE: Patient encounters for this measure conducted via telehealth (e.g., encounters coded with GQ, GT, 95, or POS 02 modifiers) are allowable.

Measure Submission Type:

Measure data may be submitted by individual MIPS eligible clinicians, groups, or third party intermediaries. The listed denominator criteria are used to identify the intended patient population. The numerator options included in this specification are used to submit the quality actions as allowed by the measure. The quality data codes listed do not need to be submitted by MIPS eligible clinicians, groups, or third party intermediaries that utilize this modality for submissions; however, these codes may be submitted for those third party intermediaries that utilize Medicare Part B claims data. For more information regarding Application Programming Interface (API), please refer to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website.

DENOMINATOR:

All patients aged 2 years and older with a diagnosis of AOE

DENOMINATOR NOTE: A new diagnosis code indicates a new occurrence of AOE. If a patient presents with right ear AOE then returns with new onset of left ear AOE symptoms, then the left ear AOE would be considered a new unique occurrence, separate from the right ear AOE.

Denominator Criteria (Eligible Cases):

Patients aged ≥ 2 years on date of encounter

AND

Diagnosis for AOE (ICD-10-CM): H60.311, H60.312, H60.313, H60.319, H60.321, H60.322, H60.323, H60.329, H60.331, H60.332, H60.333, H60.339, H60.391, H60.392, H60.393, H60.399, H60.501, H60.502, H60.503, H60.509, H60.511, H60.512, H60.513, H60.519, H60.521, H60.522, H60.523, H60.529, H60.531, H60.532, H60.533, H60.539, H60.541, H60.542, H60.543, H60.549, H60.551, H60.552, H60.553, H60.559, H60.591, H60.592, H60.593, H60.599, H62.40, H62.41, H62.42, H62.43

AND

Patient encounter during the performance period (CPT): 99202, 99203, 99204, 99205, 99212, 99213, 99214, 99215, 99281, 99282, 99283, 99284, 99285, 99304, 99305, 99306, 99307, 99308, 99309, 99310, 99324, 99325, 99326, 99327, 99328, 99334, 99335, 99336, 99341, 99342, 99343, 99344, 99345, 99347, 99348, 99349, 99350

NUMERATOR:

Patients who were not prescribed systemic antimicrobial therapy

Numerator Instructions:

For performance, the measure will be calculated as the number of patients for whom systemic antimicrobial therapy was not prescribed over the number of patients in the denominator (patients aged 2 years and older with acute otitis externa). A higher score indicates appropriate treatment of patients with AOE (e.g., the proportion for whom systemic antimicrobials were not prescribed).

NUMERATOR NOTE: Denominator Exception is determined on the date of the denominator eligible episode.

Numerator Options:

Performance Met: Systemic antimicrobial therapy not prescribed (4132F)

OR

Denominator Exception: Documentation of medical reason(s) for prescribing systemic antimicrobial therapy (4131F with 1P)

OR

Performance Not Met: Systemic antimicrobial therapy prescribed (4131F)