The 2027 Annual Update draft measure specifications are now available. Question and comment on Eligible Clinician eCQMs, Hospital - Inpatient eCQMs, and Hospital - Outpatient eCQM until December 19, 2025.
Top
Official websites use
.gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
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.
"Medication, Active"
Performance/Reporting Period
2022
QDM Datatype (QDM Version 5.5 Guidance Update):
Data elements that meet criteria using this datatype should document that the medication indicated by the QDM category and its corresponding value set is being taken by the patient. Keep in mind that when this datatype is used with timing relationships, the criterion is looking for a medication being taken for the time frame indicated by the timing relationships.
Timing:
- relevant dateTime references the time the medication is active on the medication record if it was given or taken at a single point in time.
- relevantPeriod references a start and stop time for an active medication on the medication record that is given or taken over a time interval:
- The relevantPeriod addresses:
- startTime - when the medication is first known to be used (generally the time of entry on the medication list).
- stopTime - when the medication is no longer active.
In the original QDM 5.5 publication, stopTime stated: when the medication is discontinued (generally, the time discontinuation is recorded on the medication list). See Appendix 6.3 for clarification regarding definition of "Medication, Active" relevantPeriod stopTime.
QDM Datatype and Definition
Medication
Medication represents clinical drugs or chemical substances intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease. Medications are defined as directly referenced values or value sets containing values derived from code systems such as RxNorm.
Data Elements defined by this QDM Datatype:
QDM Attributes
dosage
Details of how much medication is taken or is to be taken, i.e., the quantity (mg, cc, tablets) to be taken at a single administration.
frequency
Indicates how frequently the medication or substance:
- Is administered to a patient for an active medication (a).
- Was administered to the patient (b).
- Should be taken by the patient or administered to the patient (c).
- Is recommended to be given to the patient (d).
recorder
The recorder indicates who recorded (or documented) the information (e.g., the individual or organization documenting the information). Note that HL7 FHIR modeling includes reference to asserter for concepts such as diagnosis and Allergy/Intolerance. Feedback from implementers and EHR vendors suggest that asserter fields default to the individual entering the information without clear evidence about how often clinicians change the default to theperson who reported the information. Therefore, QDM retains a recorder attribute for the referenced QDM datatypes.
The prescriber attribute references the new QDM entities (patient, care partner, practitioner, or organization) and any or all of the attributes of the respective QDM entity. For example, to reference that a physician who recorded a diagnosis is the same person who was the primary participant in an Encounter and assure the physician's specialty meets the measures requirements, the eCQM can use the Practitioner Entity and its attributes. Should the eCQM choose to reference a physician practice or a hospital, the performer can reference the Organization Entity and indicate the identifier and/or the organization type.
relevantDateTime
Relevant dateTime addresses the time an activity occurs as a single point in time. If the activity occurs over a period of time, use Relevant Period.
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
route
Refers to the path by which the medication or substance should be taken into the body system, such as intradermally, intrathecally, intramuscularly, intranasally, intravenously, orally, rectally, subcutaneously, sublingually, topically, or vaginally.
Last Updated: Jul 08, 2021