diagnoses

Coded diagnoses/problems addressed during the encounter. The diagnoses attribute has three components:

• diagnosis (code)
• presentOnAdmissionIndicator (code)
• rank (positive integer)

To reference an encounter diagnosis, the expression must include the diagnosis code component. The other components are optional. The expression should only include the presentOnAdmissionIndicator if it is necessary to reference present on admission and should only include the rank if it is necessary to reference principal diagnosis.

The "Encounter, Performed" diagnosis attribute is intended to capture ALL diagnoses, including the principal diagnosis, i.e., all diagnoses addressed during the encounter represented by the diagnosis (code) used in the expression.The presentOnAdmissionIndicator (code) allows the eCQM developer to include criteria about whether each specific "Encounter, Performed" diagnosis was present at the time of admission (an indicator used to evaluate patient safety and adverse events). See presentOnAdmissionIndicator attribute definition for information about using the "Encounter, Performed" diagnosis attribute.

The "Encounter, Performed" diagnosis (rank) replaces the principal diagnosis attribute. To reference a principal diagnosis, eCQM developers should express the "Encounter, Performed" diagnosis with a diagnosis (code) and a rank of 1. See definition of rank attribute.

With an "Encounter, Performed" diagnosis, there is no dependency on the timing of the diagnosis in relation to the encounter.

• Use of the "Encounter, Performed": diagnoses attribute component and the "Diagnosis" datatype is redundant for relating the diagnosis to the "Encounter, Performed". The "Encounter, Performed": diagnoses component syntax is preferred.
• Referencing the same diagnosis using "Encounter, Performed" (diagnoses attribute) and "Diagnosis" (datatype) should only occur if the measure must define a specified length of a prevalencePeriod, e.g.,
  • The measure must assure that the diagnoses
    • have been present for at least some defined time period before the encounter, and
    • were addressed during the "Encounter, Performed"