Development

Bonnie is a software tool that allows eCQM developers to test and verify the behavior of their eCQM logic. The Bonnie application allows measure developers to independently load measures that they have constructed using the MAT and helps measure developers execute the measure logic against the constructed patient test deck and evaluate whether the logic aligns with the intent of the measure.

The Bonnie User Group is a community of users that benefit from shared experiences and questions. It allows the development team to easily reach out to the community for new releases, proposed features, and focus group opportunities. To join:

• Navigate to https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/bonnie
• Sign in with a google account or create an account tied to an existing email address: under “Choose your username” click “I prefer to use my current email address.”
• Click “Join group”

Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Connect is an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)-sponsored online platform for sharing interoperable CDS resources. Resources include standards-based CDS logic, implementation guides, pilot demonstration reports, and open-source software tools for CDS developers.

Clinical Quality Language (CQL) is an HL7 standard for trial use (STU) and it is part of the effort to harmonize standards between electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) and clinical decision support (CDS). CQL provides the ability to express logic that is human readable yet structured enough for processing a query electronically.

CMS Measures Inventory Tool (CMIT) is a repository for information about CMS measures. CMS and its partners use the inventory to inform stakeholders, to manage its measure portfolio, and to guide measure development. The functions allow users to find measures quickly, to compile and refine sets of related measures, to identify measures across the continuum of care, and will help coordinate measurement efforts across all conditions, settings, and populations.

The Clinical Quality Language (CQL) Formatting and Usage Wiki is a collaborative workspace for the development of CQL formatting conventions and usage patterns for the representation of logic within quality measures. All users have edit rights to be able to submit edits, add comments and concerns. Items on the Wiki are a work in progress and subject to change. 

The eCQM Known Issues is a section in the Clinical Quality Language (CQL) Formatting and Usage Wiki that provides a listing of known issues relative to CQL-Based eCQM support.

The CQL Style Guide provides standardized expressions of measure concepts across eCQMs and promotes a uniform “look and feel” to eCQM logic using CQL. The guide focuses on a set of common best practices that have been implemented across CQL-based eCQMs in CMS quality reporting programs. The style guide also promotes the use of consistent language within the framework of CQL, including libraries, aliases, definitions, and functions, as well as guidance on other conventions, such as operator precedence. Measure stewards or developers who are developing or specifying eCQMs for future inclusion in CMS programs should align with these best practices.

The CQL-to- ELM Translator is a specification that describes a formal mechanism for translating the high-level CQL syntax into the canonical called Expression Logical Model (ELM) representation. The reference implementation is intended to be used in support of CQF implementations as a tool to enable CQL output to be uniformly and automatically translated into ELM XML or JSON documents for sharing and distribution to support implementation, integration, translation, and execution of CQL-based artifacts.

The eCQI Resource Center is a website which provides eCQI resources and connections with the community of professionals who are dedicated to electronic clinical quality improvement for better health. It provides eCQM electronic specifications along with tool and resource links. It serves as “the one-stop shop for the most current resources to support electronic clinical quality improvement.”