| Title |
Appropriate Treatment for Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| CMS eCQM ID | CMS154v14 | CBE ID | Not Applicable |
| MIPS Quality ID | 065 | ||
| Measure Steward | National Committee for Quality Assurance | ||
| Description | Percentage of episodes for patients 3 months of age and older with a diagnosis of upper respiratory infection (URI) that did not result in an antibiotic order. | ||
| Measure Scoring | Proportion | ||
| Measure Type | Process | ||
| Stratification | – 3 months–17 years – 18–64 years – 65 years and older |
||
| Risk Adjustment | None | ||
| Rationale | Most URI, also known as the common cold, are caused by viruses that require no antibiotic treatment. Too often, antibiotics are prescribed inappropriately, which can lead to antibiotic resistance (when antibiotics can no longer cure bacterial infections). In the United States, at least 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant illnesses and 35,000 deaths occur each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020). | ||
| Clinical Recommendation Statement | American Family Physician (Fashner, Ericson, & Werner, 2012)
– Antibiotics should not be used for the treatment of cold symptoms in children or adults. (A) – Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduce pain secondary to upper respiratory tract infection in adults. (A) – Decongestants, antihistamine/decongestant combinations, and intranasal ipratropium (Atrovent) may improve cold symptoms in adults. (B) Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) (Short et al., 2017) The ICSI work group does not recommend antibiotics for treatment of common cold symptoms in children and adults. |
||
| Improvement Notation | Higher score indicates better quality | ||
| Definition | None | ||
| Guidance | This is an episode of care measure that examines all eligible episodes for the patient.
This eCQM is an episode-based measure. An episode is defined as each eligible encounter for patients aged 3 months of age and older with a diagnosis of upper respiratory infection from January 1 to December 28 of the measurement period. This version of the eCQM uses QDM version 5.6. Please refer to the QDM page for more information on the QDM. |
||
| Initial Population | Outpatient visits, telephone visits, virtual encounter (i.e., e-visit or virtual check-in), or emergency department visits with a diagnosis of URI from January 1 to December 28 of the measurement period for patients 3 months of age and older | ||
| Denominator | Equals Initial Population | ||
| Denominator Exclusions | Exclude URI episodes when the patient had hospice care for any part of the measurement period.
Exclude URI episodes when the patient had a comorbid condition during the 12 months prior to or on the episode date. Exclude URI episodes where the patient is taking antibiotics in the 30 days prior to the episode date. Exclude URI episodes where the patient had competing diagnosis on or three days after the episode date. |
||
| Numerator | URI episodes without a prescription for antibiotic medication on or three days after the outpatient visit, telephone visit, virtual encounter, or emergency department visit for an upper respiratory infection | ||
| Numerator Exclusions | None | ||
| Denominator Exceptions | None | ||
| Telehealth Eligible | Yes | ||
| Next Version | No Version Available | ||
| Previous Version | CMS154v13 | ||
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