Back to top
Top
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

"Encounter, Performed"

Performance/Reporting Period
2021
QDM Datatype (QDM Version 5.5 Guidance Update):
QDM Datatype and Definition

Encounter

Encounter represents an identifiable grouping of healthcare-related activities characterized by the entity relationship between the subject of care and a healthcare provider; such a grouping is determined by the healthcare provider. A patient encounter represents interaction between a healthcare provider and a patient with a face-to-face patient visit to a clinician's office, or any electronically remote interaction with a clinician for any form of diagnostic treatment or therapeutic event. Encounters can be billable events but are not limited to billable interactions. Each encounter has an associated location or modality within which it occurred (such as an office, home, electronic methods, phone encounter, or telemedicine methods). The encounter location attribute defines the patient's location at the time of measurement. Different levels and modes of interaction can be specified in the direct reference code or value set value associated with the element.
Data Elements defined by this QDM Datatype:
QDM Attributes

admissionSource

The location from which the patient was admitted (e.g., physician referral, facility from which the patient was transferred).

authorDateTime

The time the data element was entered into the clinical software. Note, some datatypes include both relevant dateTime and author dateTime attributes. When both are present, author dateTime is included to accommodate negation rationale.

The author dateTime addresses when an activity is documented. Documentation can occur at the beginning, during, at the end, or subsequent to the end of the activity. The author dateTime should be used only if the relevantPeriod cannot be obtained or to represent the time negation rationale is documented.

Note: negation rationale indicates a one-time documentation of a reason an activity is not performed. Negation of QDM datatype related actions for a reason always use the author dateTime attribute to reference timing and must not use relevantPeriod.

diagnoses

dischargeDisposition

The disposition, or location to which the patient is transferred at the time of hospital discharge.

facilityLocations

The particular locations in a facility in which the diagnostic study or encounter occurs or occurred. Examples include intensive care units (ICUs), nonICUs, burn critical care unit, neonatal ICU, and respiratory care unit. Each "Encounter, Performed" may have one or more locations. For example, a patient treated in multiple locations during an individual encounter might be expressed as:
  • "Encounter, Performed": Inpatient Admission, facility locations
    • ICU (locationPeriod)
    • Non-ICU Admission (locationPeriod)
    • Rehab (locationPeriod)

lengthOfStay

The difference of the admission date/time and the discharge date/time for the encounter. This attribute should not be used for outpatient encounters.

negationRationale

relevantPeriod

Relevant Period addresses the time between the start of an action to the end of an action. Each datatype using relevant period defines specific definitions for the start and stop time for the action listed.

Note: negation rationale indicates a one-time documentation of a reason an activity is not performed. Negation of QDM datatyperelated actions for a reason always use the author dateTime attribute to reference timing and must not use relevantPeriod