2018 quality reporting reconciliations due March 29
AQI has completed the quality reporting reconciliation process in which your practice's order, with the number and type of Eligible Clinicians (i.e. physician or CRNA), is compared to the information submitted to NACOR in your practice's data file. For each data file submitted, AQI confirms the membership status of each EC to determine if s/he is eligible to receive the ASA member benefit rate for NACOR Quality Reporting.
Payments must be received by March 29 or your practice's data may not be submitted to CMS. For questions regarding the specific ECs that the roster represents, contact Margaret Bussan at 847-268-9231 or m.bussan@asahq.org. Call Linda Burkart, ASA Senior Accounting Clerk, at 847-268-9210 with credit card payments.
2019 NACOR XML Schema changes
On April 15, AQI will release the 2019 NACOR XML Schema updates. There are minimal changes for 2019 - addition of optional variables and existing enumerations. The AQIXMLVersion number will change as follows:
- 2018V1.0 → 2019V1.0
- 2018V1.0R → 2019V1.0R
All data files must be submitted using the new format effective July 1. Questions should be directed to aqitech@asahq.org.
AQI Measure FAQs
Over the past several weeks AQI and QRA have received multiple inquiries regarding AQI Measure 59, 63 and 64. Please see the questions and answers below to help assist you with your data collection for these measures:
AQI 59: Multi-Modal Pain Management
What do we mean by "elective" procedures?
- AQI defines elective as "A surgical, therapeutic, or diagnostic procedure that can be performed at any time or date with an agreement between the surgeon and the patient".
- These cases are distinct from urgent or emergent.
What if I have a denominator-eligible case that doesn't require multimodal analgesia because pain is well-controlled with a single mode of analgesia?
- Because AQI relies on ASA billing codes, we can't have a perfectly precise denominator.
- We do not recommend giving additional medications that are not indicated just for the sake of meeting the measure.
- There is not an expectation of 100% performance, it only matters how you perform compared to your peers.
AQI 63 and 64: Neuromuscular blockade measures
Does the denominator include depolarizing or non-depolarizing medications?
- There was a typo in early versions of the QCDR measure book. These measures are meant to include non-depolarizing medications.
- A corrected version of the book has been posted on the AQI website.
- The most current version of the book is dated February 4th (version 2.1).
For more information, email AskAQI@asahq.org.
NACOR dashboard locked down
The NACOR dashboard is currently locked down as AQI prepares for the 2018 MIPS data submission to CMS. Providers will be unable to make any changes to the provider list at this time. The provider lists will be unlocked on Monday, April 8, for 2019 MIPS reporting. Practices are still able to log in and view dashboard reports. For more information, email AskAQI@asahq.org.