2026 #430 MIPS Measure Prevention of Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV) – Combination Therapy

2026 COLLECTION TYPE:

MERIT-BASED INCENTIVE PAYMENT SYSTEM (MIPS) CLINICAL QUALITY MEASURE (CQM)

‌MEASURE TYPE: Process – High Priority

‌Description:

Percentage of patients, aged 18 years and older, who undergo a procedure under an inhalational general anesthetic, AND who have three or more risk factors for post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), who receive combination therapy consisting of at least two prophylactic pharmacologic anti-emetic agents of different classes preoperatively and/or intraoperatively

‌Instructions:

Reporting Frequency:
This measure is to be submitted each time for denominator eligible cases as defined in the denominator criteria.

Intent and Clinical Applicability:
This measure is intended to reflect the quality of services provided for patients aged 18 years and older who undergo any procedure including surgical, therapeutic or diagnostic under an inhalational general anesthetic AND who have three or more risk factors for PONV performed. There is no diagnosis associated with this measure. This measure may be submitted by Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligible clinicians who perform the quality actions as defined by the numerator based on the services provided and the measure-specific denominator coding.

Measure Strata and Performance Rates:
This measure contains one strata defined by a single submission criteria.
This measure produces a single performance rate.

Implementation Considerations:
For the purposes of MIPS implementation, this procedure measure is submitted each time a procedure is performed during the performance period.

Telehealth:
NOT TELEHEALTH ELIGIBLE: This measure is not appropriate for nor applicable to the telehealth setting. This measure is procedure based and therefore doesn’t allow for the denominator criteria to be conducted via telehealth. It would be appropriate to remove these patients from the denominator eligible patient population. Telehealth eligibility is at the measure level for inclusion within the denominator eligible patient population and based on the measure specification definitions which are independent of changes to coding and/or billing practices.

‌Measure Submission :

‌The quality data codes listed do not need to be submitted by MIPS eligible clinicians, groups, or third party intermediaries that utilize this collection type for submissions; however, these codes may be submitted for those third party intermediaries that utilize Medicare Part B claims data. The coding provided to identify the measure criteria: Denominator or Numerator, may be an example of coding that could be used to identify patients that meet the intent of this clinical topic. When implementing this measure, please refer to the ‘Reference Coding’ section to determine if other codes or code languages that meet the intent of the criteria may also be used within the medical record to identify and/or assess patients. For more information regarding Application Programming Interface (API), please refer to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website.

Denominator:

All patients, aged 18 years and older, who undergo any procedure including surgical, therapeutic or diagnostic under an inhalational general anesthetic, AND who have three or more risk factors for PONV

Definition:

PONV Risk Factors – The following are risk factors for PONV:

Female gender
History of PONV
History of motion sickness
Non-smoker
Intended administration of opioids for post-operative analgesia. This includes use of opioids given intraoperatively and whose effects extend into the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) or post-operative period, or opioids given in the PACU, or opioids given after discharge from the PACU.
Denominator Criteria (Eligible Cases):

Patients aged ≥ 18 years on date of service

AND

Patient procedure during the performance period (CPT): 00100, 00102, 00103, 00104, 00120, 00124, 00126, 00140, 00142, 00144, 00145, 00147, 00148, 00160, 00162, 00164, 00170, 00172, 00174, 00176, 00190, 00192, 00210, 00211, 00212, 00214, 00215, 00216, 00218, 00220, 00222, 00300, 00320, 00322, 00350, 00352, 00400, 00402, 00404, 00406, 00410, 00450, 00454, 00470, 00472, 00474, 00500, 00520, 00522, 00524, 00528, 00529, 00530, 00532, 00534, 00537, 00539, 00540, 00541, 00542, 00546, 00548, 00550, 00560, 00566, 00580, 00600, 00604, 00620, 00625, 00626, 00630, 00632, 00635, 00640, 00670, 00700, 00702, 00730, 00731, 00732, 00750, 00752, 00754, 00756, 00770, 00790, 00792, 00794, 00796, 00797, 00800, 00802, 00811, 00812, 00813, 00820, 00830, 00832, 00840, 00842, 00844, 00846, 00848, 00851, 00860, 00862, 00864, 00865, 00866, 00868, 00870, 00872, 00873, 00880, 00882, 00902, 00904, 00906, 00908, 00910, 00912, 00914, 00916, 00918, 00920, 00921, 00922, 00924, 00926, 00928, 00930, 00932, 00934, 00936, 00938, 00940, 00942, 00944, 00948, 00950, 00952, 01112, 01120, 01130, 01140, 01150, 01160, 01170, 01173, 01200, 01202, 01210, 01212, 01214, 01215, 01220, 01230, 01232, 01234, 01250, 01260, 01270, 01272, 01274, 01320, 01340, 01360, 01380, 01382, 01390, 01392, 01400, 01402, 01404, 01420, 01430, 01432, 01440, 01442, 01444, 01462, 01464, 01470, 01472, 01474, 01480, 01482, 01484, 01486, 01490, 01500, 01502, 01520, 01522, 01610, 01620, 01622, 01630, 01634, 01636, 01638, 01650, 01652, 01654, 01656, 01670, 01680, 01710, 01712, 01714, 01716, 01730, 01732, 01740, 01742, 01744, 01756, 01758, 01760, 01770, 01772, 01780, 01782, 01810, 01820, 01829, 01830, 01832, 01840, 01842, 01844, 01850, 01852, 01860, 01924, 01925, 01926, 01930, 01931, 01932, 01933, 01937, 01938, 01939, 01940, 01941, 01942, 01951, 01952, 01961, 01962, 01963, 01965, 01966

AND

Patient received inhalational anesthetic agent: 4554F

AND

Patient exhibits 3 or more risk factors for post-operative nausea and vomiting: 4556F

‌Numerator:

Patients who receive combination therapy consisting of at least two prophylactic pharmacologic anti-emetic agents of different classes preoperatively and/or intraoperatively

Definition:

Anti-emetics Therapy – The recommended first- and second-line classes of pharmacologic anti-emetics for PONV prophylaxis in patients at moderate to severe risk of PONV include (but are not limited to):
NK-1 Receptor Antagonists
5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT3) Receptor Antagonists
Glucocorticoids
Propofol for induction and maintenance of anesthesia
Phenothiazines
Phenylethylamines
Butyrophenones
Antihistamines
Anticholinergics

NUMERATOR NOTE: The foregoing list of medications/drug names is based on clinical guidelines and other evidence. The specified drugs were selected based on the strength of evidence for their clinical effectiveness. This list of selected drugs may not be current. Physicians and other health care professionals should refer to the FDA’s web site page entitled “Drug Safety Communications” for up-to- date drug recall and alert information when prescribing medications.

Numerator Options:

Performance Met: Patient received at least 2 prophylactic pharmacologic anti- emetic agents of different classes preoperatively and/or intraoperatively (G9775)

Denominator Exception: Documentation of medical reason for not receiving at least 2 prophylactic pharmacologic anti-emetic agents of different classes preoperatively and/or intraoperatively (e.g., intolerance or other medical reason) (G9776)

Performance Not Met: Patient did not receive at least 2 prophylactic pharmacologic anti-emetic agents of different classes preoperatively and/or intraoperatively (G9777)

RATIONALE:

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is an important patient-centered outcome of anesthesia care. PONV is highly dis-satisfying to patients, although rarely life-threatening. A large body of scientific literature has defined risk factors for PONV; demonstrated effective prophylactic regimes based on these risk factors, and demonstrated high variability in this outcome across individual centers and providers. Further, a number of papers have shown that performance can be assessed at the level of individual providers — the outcome is common enough that sufficient power exists to assess variability and improvement at this level.