2026 #116 MIPS Measure Avoidance of Antibiotic Treatment for Acute Bronchitis/Bronchiolitis

‌2026 COLLECTION TYPE:

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

‌MEASURE TYPE:

Process – High Priority

‌DESCRIPTION:

The percentage of episodes for patients ages 3 months and older with a diagnosis of acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis that did not result in an antibiotic dispensing event.

‌INSTRUCTIONS:

‌Reporting Frequency:

This measure is to be submitted at each occurrence for denominator eligible cases as defined in the denominator criteria.

‌Intent and Clinician Applicability:

This measure is intended to reflect the quality of services provided for patients with acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis during the performance period. 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 episode measure is submitted once for each occurrence of a particular illness or condition during the performance period.

‌Telehealth:

TELEHEALTH ELIGIBLE: This measure is appropriate for and applicable to the telehealth setting. Patient encounters conducted via telehealth using encounter code(s) found in the denominator encounter criteria are allowed for this measure. Therefore, if the patient meets all denominator criteria for a telehealth encounter, it would be appropriate to include them in 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 3 months or older with an outpatient visit, emergency department (ED) visit, observation visit, telephone visit, e-visit or virtual check-in with a diagnosis of acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis during the measurement period.

‌DENOMINATOR NOTE:

Do not include visits that result in an inpatient admission. When a visit and an inpatient stay are billed on separate claims, the visit results in an inpatient stay when the visit date of service occurs on the day prior to the admission date or any time during the admission (admission date through discharge date). A visit billed on the same claim as an inpatient stay is considered a visit that resulted in an inpatient stay.

*Signifies that this CPT Category I code is a non-covered service under the Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). These non-covered services should be counted in the denominator population for MIPS CQMs.

‌Denominator Criteria (Eligible Cases):

Patients 3 months of age and older on date of encounter

AND

Diagnosis for acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis (ICD-10-CM): J20.3, J20.4, J20.5, J20.6, J20.7, J20.8, J20.9, J21.0, J21.1, J21.8, J21.9

AND

Patient encounter during the performance period (CPT or HCPCS): 98000, 98001, 98002, 98003, 98004, 98005, 98006, 98007, 98008, 98009, 98010, 98011, 98012, 98013, 98014, 98015, 98016, 98966, 98967, 98968, 98970, 98971, 98972 99202, 99203, 99204, 99205, 99211, 99212, 99213, 99214, 99215, 99221, 99222, 99223, 99238, 99239, 99242*, 99243*, 99244*, 99245*, 99281, 99282, 99283, 99284, 99285, 99341, 99342, 99344, 99345, 99347, 99348, 99349, 99350, 99381*, 99382*, 99383*, 99384*, 99385*, 99386*, 99387*, 99391*, 99392*, 99393*, 99394*, 99395*, 99396*, 99397*, 99401*, 99402*, 99403*, 99404*, 99411*, 99412*, 99421, 99422, 99423, 99429*, 99455, 99456, 99457, 99470, 99483, G0071, G0402, G0438, G0439, G0463*, G2010, G2250, G2251, G2252, T1015*

WITHOUT 

Place of Service (POS): 21

AND NOT

DENOMINATOR EXCLUSIONS:

Outpatient, ED or Observation visits that result in an inpatient admission: G2176

OR

Acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis episodes when the patient had a new or refill prescription of antibiotics (Table 1) in the 30 days prior to the episode date: G2177

OR

Documentation of medical reason(s) for prescribing or dispensing antibiotic (e.g., intestinal infection, pertussis, bacterial infection, Lyme disease, otitis media, acute sinusitis, acute pharyngitis, acute tonsillitis, chronic sinusitis, infection of the pharynx/larynx/tonsils/adenoids, prostatitis, cellulitis/ mastoiditis/bone infections, acute lymphadenitis, impetigo, skin staph infections, pneumonia, gonococcal infections/venereal disease (syphilis, chlamydia, inflammatory diseases [female reproductive organs]), infections of the kidney, cystitis/UTI, acne, HIV disease/asymptomatic HIV, cystic fibrosis, disorders of the immune system, malignancy neoplasms, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, bronchiectasis, extrinsic allergic alveolitis, chronic airway obstruction, chronic obstructive asthma, pneumoconiosis and other lung disease due to external agents, other diseases of the respiratory system, and tuberculosis): G9712

OR 

Patients who use hospice services any time during the measurement period: G9713

‌Reference Medication Table:

Table 1: Denominator Exclusion for a new or refill prescription of antibiotics [G2177] and Numerator Option for

antibiotic prescribed or dispensed [4120F] is defined by the following antibiotic medications only:

‌NUMERATOR:

Patients who were not prescribed or dispensed antibiotics (Table 1) on or within 3 days of the initial date of service.

‌Numerator Instructions:

For performance, the measure will be calculated as the number of patient encounters where antibiotics were neither prescribed nor dispensed on or within 3 days of the episode for acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis over the total number of encounters in the denominator (patients aged 3 months and older with an outpatient, telephone, e-visit or virtual check-in, observation or ED visit for acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis). A higher score indicates appropriate treatment of patients with acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis (e.g., the proportion for whom antibiotics were not prescribed or dispensed on or three days after the encounter). Delayed prescriptions (where an antibiotic was prescribed and patient was instructed to delay taking the antibiotic) are considered “Performance Not Met”.

‌Numerator Options:

‌Performance Met: Antibiotic neither prescribed nor dispensed (4124F)

‌OR

Performance Not Met: Antibiotic prescribed or dispensed (4120F)

RATIONALE:

Antibiotics are most often inappropriately prescribed for acute bronchitis (Gonzalez et al., 2001a). This measure assesses the percentage of episodes among members ages 3 months and older with a diagnosis of acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis that did not result in an antibiotic dispensing event.

Antibiotics are not indicated in clinical guidelines for treating with acute bronchitis who do not have a comorbidity or other infection for which antibiotics may be appropriate (Gonzalez et al., 2001b; Gonzalez et al., 2001c). Inappropriate antibiotic treatment of patients with acute bronchitis is of clinical concern, especially since misuse and overuse of antibiotics lead to antibiotic drug resistance (Steinman et al., 2004)). Acute bronchitis consistently ranks among the 10 conditions that account for most ambulatory office visits to U.S. physicians; furthermore, while the vast majority of acute bronchitis cases (more than 90%) have a nonbacterial cause, antibiotics are inappropriately prescribed 65%–80% of the time (Gonzalez et al., 2001a; McCaig et al., 2003).

Inappropriate antibiotic use can be addressed by reminding providers of clinical guideline recommendations and providing feedback about their prescribing behaviors. In addition, use of patient education interventions can discourage seeking antibiotics for viral conditions (such as the common cold), or without confirmatory tests such as group A strep test for pharyngitis.