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Glossary

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W
Efficiency measure

An efficiency measure is the cost of care (inputs to the health system in the form of expenditures and other resources) associated with a specified level of health outcome.


Electronic case reporting

Electronic case reporting is the automated generation and electronic submission of reportable diseases and conditions from an electronic health record to public health agencies. Each state has public health reporting requirements and relies on health care providers to report on certain conditions.


Electronic clinical quality improvement (eCQI)

Electronic clinical quality improvement is the use of health information technology, and the functionality and data in an electronic health record and/or other health information technology, along with clinical best practices to support, leverage, and advance quality improvement initiatives.


Electronic clinical quality improvement (eCQI) implementer

An electronic clinical quality improvement (eCQI) implementer does many things to prepare processes and systems such as

  • Putting measure data components into systems and workflow
  • Using measures when conducting health care activities
  • Providing information from measures to inform quality improvement (e.g., health information technology implementer, quality analyst, quality reporting validator)

Electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM)

An electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) is a measure specified in a standard electronic format that uses data electronically extracted from electronic health records (EHR) and/or health information technology (IT) systems to measure the quality of health care provided.


Electronic health record (EHR)

An electronic health record (EHR) is also known as the electronic patient record, electronic medical record, or computerized patient record. An EHR is a “longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, diagnoses and treatment, medications, allergies, immunizations as well as radiology images and laboratory results.” International Social Security Association. (n.d.). Information and communication technology- Guideline 91. Electronic health record system. Retrieved March 20, 2024, from https://ww1.issa.int/guidelines/ict/180156


Eligible clinician

An eligible clinician refers to a clinician who is eligible to participate in the Quality Payment Program through the Merit-based Incentive Payment System and similar participants of other CMS programs using electronic clinical quality measures for quality reporting such as Alternative Payment Model participants.


Eligible hospital (EH)

An eligible hospital is an acute care facility, e.g., Subsection (d) hospitals in the 50 states or District of Columbia paid under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System, and critical access hospitals, meeting eligibility requirements for electronic health record (EHR) incentive payments by adopting, implementing, or updating certified EHR technology.


End user

An end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or intends to ultimately use a guideline, measure, or its derivative products.


Environmental scan

An environmental scan is the process of systematically reviewing and interpreting data to identify issues and opportunities influencing prioritization of current or future plans.


Expression Logical Model (ELM)

The Expression Logical Model (ELM) is a machine-readable representation of an electronic clinical quality measure’s logic and provides the information needed to automatically retrieve data from an electronic health record. The ELM file can be in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) (.xml) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) (.json).


eXtensible Markup Language (XML)

eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language defining a set of rules for encoding documents in both a human-readable and machine-readable format.


Extensional value set

An extensional value set is a set of concept codes and descriptors, in the form of an enumerated list, selected to serve a specific purpose.