Quality Measure STU2 for FHIR R4 Implementation Guide
This page is part of the Quality Measure STU2 for FHIR R4 Implementation Guide (v2.0.0: STU 2) based on FHIR R4. The current version which supercedes this version is 3.0.0. For a full list of available versions, see the Directory of published versions 
A CQL artifact is referred to as a library.
Conformance Requirement 18 (Library Declaration): 
This IG recommends an approach to versioning libraries used within Measures to help track and manage dependencies. The approach recommended here is based on the Semantic Versioning Scheme.
Conformance Requirement 19 (Library Versioning):
There are three main types of changes that can be made to a library. First, a library can be changed in a way that would alter the public use of its components. Second, a library can be changed by adding new components or functionality but without changing existing components are used. And third, a library can be changed in a way that does not change existing components or add new components, but only corrects or improves the originally intended functionality. By exposing version numbers that identify all three types of changes, libraries can be versioned in a way that makes clear when a change will impact usage, versus when a change can potentially be safely incorporated as an update. The first type of change will be referred to as a “major” change, and will require incrementing of the “major version number”. The second type of change will be referred to as a “minor” change, and will only require incrementing of the “minor version number”. And finally, the third type of change will be referred to as a “patch”, and will only require incrementing the “patch version number”. Version numbers for CQL libraries can then be represented as:
<major>.<minor>.<patch>
For example:
library EXM146 version '1.0.0'
This would indicate the first major version of the EXM146 library. A minor change could be released by incrementing the minor version:
library EXM146 version '1.1.0'
And a major change could be released by incrementing the major version, and resetting the minor version: Minor changes are expected to retain backwards-compatibility, but may introduce new features and functionality, while patch changes are expected to retain forward and backwards-compatibility, and may only be used to fix issues.
library EXM146 version '2.0.0'
Snippet 4-1: Library line from EXM146.cql, the second major version.
CQL allows libraries to re-use logic already defined in other libraries. This is accomplished by utilizing the include line as in Snippet 4-2.
includes Common version '2.0.0' called Common
Snippet 4-2: Nested library within EXM146.cql
The set of all CQL libraries used to define a Measure must adhere to Conformance Requirement 20.
Conformance Requirement 20 (Nested Libraries):
called clause for all included librariescalled-alias for an included library SHOULD be consistent for usages across librariesBecause of this conformance statement, the primary library for a measure can always be determined by looking at the library referenced by the initial population criteria for the measure.
CQL allows libraries to define a namespace that can be used to organize libraries across different groups of users.
Within a namespace, library names are required to be unique. Across namespaces, the same library name may be reused.
For example, OrganizationA and OrganizationB can both define a library named Common, so long as they use different
namespaces. For example, consider the following library declaration:
library CMS.Common version '2.0.0'
This example declares a library named Common in the CMS namespace. Per the CQL specification, the namespace for a
library is included in the ELM, along with a URI that provides a globally unique, stable identifier for the namespace.
For example, the URI for the CMS namespace would be https://ecqi.healthit.gov/ecqm/measures.
Note that this is a URI that may or may not correspond to a reachable web address (a URL). The important aspect is not the addressability, but the uniqueness, ensuring that library name collisions cannot occur.
Conformance Requirement 21 (Library Namespaces):
In addition, because the namespace of a library is part of the text, changing the namespace of a library requires a new version, just like any other change to the text of the library. However, because a change to the namespace is not a material change to the library itself, changing the namespace does not require a different version-independent identifier to be used for the library.
CQL can be used with any data model. In the context of a Measure, any referenced CQL library must identify the same data model.
Conformance Requirement 22 (CQL Data Model):
For example:
using FHIR version '3.0.0'
Snippet 4-3: Data Model line from EXM146.cql
Conformance Requirement 23 describes how to specify a code system within a CQL library.
Conformance Requirement 23 (Code System Specification):
For example:
codesystem "SNOMED CT:2017-09": 'http://snomed.info/sct'
version 'http://snomed.info/sct/731000124108/version/201709'
Snippet 4-4: codesystem definition line from Terminology.cql.
The canonical URL for a code system is a globally unique, stable, version-independent identifier for the code system. The base FHIR specification defines canonical URLs for most common code systems here.
The local identifier for the codesystem (“SNOMED CT:2017-09” in this case) should include the friendly name of the code system and optionally, an indication of the version, separated with a colon.
Version information for code systems is not required to be included in eCQMs; terminology versioning information may be specified externally. However, if versioning information is included, it must be done in accordance with the terminology usage specified by FHIR.
If no version is specified, then the default behavior for a FHIR terminology server is to use the most recent code system version available on the server.
Conformance Requirement 24 describes how to specify a valueset within a CQL library.
Conformance Requirement 24 (Value Set Specification):
For example:
valueset "Acute Pharyngitis": 'http://cts.nlm.nih.gov/fhir/ValueSet/2.16.840.1.113883.3.464.1003.102.12.1011'
Snippet 4-5: Valueset reference from EXM146.cql
The canonical URL for a value set is typically defined by the value set author, though it may be provided by the
publisher as well. For example, value sets defined in the Value Set Authority Center and exposed via the VSAC FHIR
interface have a base URL of http://cts.nlm.nih.gov/fhir/. This base is then used to construct the canonical URL for
the value set (in the same way as any FHIR URL) using the resource type (ValueSet in this case) and the id (the value
set OID in this case). Note that the canonical URL is a globally unique, stable, version-independent identifier for the
value set. See Canonical URLs in the base FHIR specification for more information.
The local identifier for the value set within CQL should be the same as the name of the value set in the Value Set Authority Center (VSAC). However, because the name of the value set is not guaranteed to be unique, it is possible to reference multiple value sets with the same name, but different identifiers. When this happens in a CQL library, the local identifier should be the name of the value set with a qualifying suffix to preserve the value set name as a human-readable artifact, but still allow unique reference within the CQL library.
For example:
valueset "Acute Pharyngitis (1)": 'http://cts.nlm.nih.gov/fhir/ValueSet/2.16.840.1.113883.3.464.1003.102.12.1011.1'
valueset "Acute Pharyngitis (2)": 'http://cts.nlm.nih.gov/fhir/ValueSet/2.16.840.1.113883.3.464.1003.102.12.1011.2'
Note carefully that although this URL may be resolveable for some terminology implementations, this is not necessarily the
case. This use of a canonical URL can be resolved as a search by the url element:
GET fhir/ValueSet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcts.nlm.nih.gov%2Ffhir%2FValueSet%2F2.16.840.1.113883.3.464.1003.102.12.1011.1
Version information for value sets is not required to be included in eCQMs; terminology versioning information may be specified externally. However, if versioning information is included, it must be done in accordance with the terminology usage specified by FHIR.
Conformance Requirement 25 describes how to retrieve an expansion of a value set by version.
Conformance Requirement 25 (Value Set Specification By Version):
|)For example:
valueset "Encounter Inpatient SNOMEDCT Value Set":
'http://cts.nlm.nih.gov/fhir/ValueSet/2.16.840.1.113883.3.666.7.307|20160929'
Snippet 4-6: valueset definition from Terminology.cql.
This is a version specific value set reference, and can be resolved as a search by the url and version elements:
GET fhir/ValueSet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcts.nlm.nih.gov%2Ffhir%2FValueSet%2F2.16.840.1.113883.3.666.7.307&version=20160929
It is important to maintain the distinction between the definition of a value set and the expansion of a value set. The searches described in previous sections all retrieve the definition of a value set. For the purposes of local evaluation, implementations may wish to retrieve the expansion of a value set, or the set of all codes that are defined to be in the value set by the definition.
Because the definition of a value set can, and often does, include codes from a code system based on properties of that code system, the expansion of a value set is sensitive to the versions of the code systems used in the definition. This means that in general, the expansion of a value set is version-specific, and care must be taken to ensure that version considerations are taken into account when using the results of an expansion.
Conformance Requirement 26 (Value Set Expansion):
For example, rather than combining multiple value sets using a “union”, separate membership tests in each value set should be used. For more information, see the Value Set Expansion topic in the base FHIR specification.
The representation of valueset declarations in a Library is discussed in the Measure Conformance Chapter of this IG.
Although CQL allows the use of strings as input to membership testing in value sets, this capability should be disallowed in measure CQL as it can lead to incorrect matching if the code system is ignored.
Conformance Requirement 27 (String-based Membership Testing):
For example, given a valueset named "Administrative Gender", the following CQL expression would be non-conformant:
'female' in "Administrative Gender"
When direct-reference codes are represented within CQL, the logical identifier is not recommended to be a URI. Instead, the logical identifier is the code from the code system.
Conformance Requirement 28 (Direct Referenced Codes):
code "Venous foot pump, device (physical object)": '442023007' from "SNOMED CT"
Snippet 4-7: code definition from Terminology.cql.
Note that for direct-reference code usage, the local identifier (in Snippet 4-7 the local identifier is “Venous foot pump, device (physical object)”) should be the same as the description of the code within the terminology in order to avoid conflicting with any usage or license agreements with the referenced terminologies, but can be different to allow for potential naming conflicts, as well as simplification of longer names when appropriate.
CQL supports both version-specific and version-independent specification of and comparison to direct-reference codes. The best practice is for measure authors to use version-independent direct-reference codes and comparisons unless there is a specific reason not to (such as the code is retired in the current version). Even in the case that version-specific direct-reference codes are required, best practice is still to use the equivalent (~) operator in CQL for the comparison (again, unless there is a specific reason to do version-specific comparison)
When direct-reference codes are used within eCQMs, they will be represented in the narrative (Human-readable) as:
"Assessment, Performed: Assessment of breastfeeding"
using "Venous foot pump, device (physical object) SNOMED CT Code (442023007)"
The representation of code declarations in a Library is discussed in Measure Conformance Chapter of this IG.
In addition to codes, CQL supports a concept construct, which is defined as a set of codes that are all semantically equivalent. CQL Concepts are not currently used within measure development and SHALL NOT be used within FHIR-based eCQMs, except to the extent that individual codes will be implicitly converted to concepts for the purposes of comparison with the Concept-value elements in FHIR resources.
Conformance Requirement 29 (Concepts):
A “library-level identifier” is any named expression, function, parameter, code system, value set, concept, or code defined in the CQL. The library name referenced in the library-line, the data model, and any referenced external library should not be considered “library-level identifiers”. Library-level identifiers ought to be given a descriptive meaningful name (avoid abbreviations) and conform to Conformance Requirement 30.
Conformance Requirement 30 (Library-level Identifiers):
For example:
define function
"Includes Or Starts During"(Condition "Condition", Encounter "Encounter"):
Interval[Condition.onset, Condition.abatement] includes Encounter.period
or Condition.onset during Encounter.period
Snippet 4-8: Function definition from Common.cql
A “data type” in CQL refers to any named type used within CQL expressions. They may be primitive types, such as the system-defined “Integer” and “DateTime”, or they may be model-defined types such as “Encounter” or “Medication”. For FHIR-based eCQMs using the QI-Core profiles, these will be the author-friendly identifiers for the QI-Core profile. Data types referenced in CQL libraries to be included in a Measure must conform to Conformance Requirement 31.
Conformance Requirement 31 (Data Type Names):
For example:
define "Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Performed":
[Procedure: "Flexible Sigmoidoscopy"] FlexibleSigmoidoscopy
where FlexibleSigmoidoscopy.status = 'completed'
and FlexibleSigmoidoscopy.performed ends 5 years or less on or before end of "Measurement Period"
Snippet 4-9: Expression definition from EXM130.cql
Two commonly used patterns for negation in quality measurement are:
For the purposes of quality measurement, when looking for documentation that a particular event did not occur, it must be documented with a reason in order to meet the intent. If a reason is not part of the intent, then the absence of evidence pattern should be used, rather than documentation of an event not occurring.
To address the reason an action did not occur (negation rationale), the eCQM must define the event it expects to occur using appropriate terminology to identify the kind of event (using a value set or direct-reference code), and then use additional criteria to indicate that the event did not occur, as well as identifying a reason.
The following examples differentiate methods to indicate (a) presence of evidence of an action, (b) absence of evidence of an action, and (c) negation rationale for not performing an action. In each case, the “action” is an administration of medication included within a value set for “Antithrombotic Therapy”.
Evidence that “Antithrombotic Therapy” (defined by a medication-specific value set) was administered:
define "Antithrombotic Administered":
["MedicationAdministration": "Antithrombotic Therapy"] AntithromboticTherapy
where AntithromboticTherapy.status = 'completed'
and AntithromboticTherapy.category = "Inpatient Setting"
No evidence that “Antithrombotic Therapy” medication was administered:
define "No Antithrombotic Therapy":
not exists (
["MedicationAdministration": "Antithrombotic Therapy"] AntithromboticTherapy
where AntithromboticTherapy.status = 'completed'
and AntithromboticTherapy.category = "Inpatient Setting"
)
Evidence that “Antithrombotic Therapy” medication administration did not occur for an acceptable medical reason as defined by a value set referenced by the eCQM (i.e., negation rationale):
define "Antithrombotic Not Administered":
["MedicationAdministration": "Antithrombotic Therapy"] NotAdministered
where NotAdministered.notGiven is true
and NotAdministered.reasonNotGiven in "Medical Reason"
In this example for negation rationale, the logic looks for a member of the value set “Medical Reason” as the rationale for not administering any of the anticoagulant and antiplatelet medications specified in the “Antithrombotic Therapy” value set. To report Antithrombotic Therapy Not Administered, this is done by referencing the URI of the “Antithrombotic Therapy” value set using the value set extension to indicate providers did not administer any of the medications in the “Antithrombotic Therapy” value set. By referencing the value set URI to negate the entire value set rather than reporting a specific member code from the value set, clinicians are not forced to having to arbitrarily select a specific medication from the “Antithrombotic Therapy” value set that they did not administer in order to negate.
Similarly, to report “Procedure, Not Performed”: “Cardiac Surgery” with a reason, the URI of “Cardiac Surgery” value set is referenced by using the value set extension to indicate providers did not perform any of the cardiac surgery specified in the “Cardiac Surgery” value set.
All attributes referenced in the CQL follow Conformance Requirement 32.
Conformance Requirement 32 (Attribute Names):
Examples of attributes conforming to Conformance Requirement 31 are given below. For a full list of valid of attributes, refer to an appropriate data model specification such as QI-Core.
period
authoredOn
result
Aliases are used in CQL as local variable names to refer to sections of code. When defining a function, argument names are used to create scoped variables that refer to the function inputs. Both aliases and argument names conform to Conformance Requirement 33.
Conformance Requirement 33 (Aliases and Argument Names):
For example:
define "Encounters During Measurement Period":
"Valid Encounters" QualifyingEncounter
where QualifyingEncounter.period during "Measurement Period"
define function "ED Stay Time"(Encounter "Encounter"):
duration in minutes of Encounter.period
Tooling exists to support translation of CQL to ELM for distribution in XML or JSON formats. These distributions are included with eCQMs to facilitate implementation. The existing translator tooling applies to both measure and decision support development, and has several options available to make use of different data models in different environments. For measure development with FHIR, the following options are recommended:
| Option | Description | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| EnableAnnotations | This instructs the translator to include the source CQL as an annotation within the ELM. | This option should be used to ensure that the distributed ELM could be linked back to the source CQL. |
| EnableLocators | This instructs the translator to include line number and character information for each ELM node. | This option should be used to ensure that distributed ELM could be tied directly to the input source CQL. |
| DisableListDemotion | This instructs the translator to disallow demotion of list-valued expressions to singletons. The list demotion feature of CQL is used to enable functionality related to use with FHIRPath. | This option should be used with Measures to ensure list demotion does not occur unexpectedly. |
| DisableListPromotion | This instructs the translator to disallow promotion of singletons to list-valued expressions. The list promotion feature of CQL is used to enable functionality related to use with FHIRPath. | This option should be used with Measures to ensure list promotion does not occur unexpectedly. |
| DisableMethodInvocation | This instructs the translator to disallow method-style invocation. The method-style invocation feature of CQL is used to enable functionality related to use with FHIRPath. | This option should be used with Measures to ensure method-style invocation cannot be used within eCQMs. |
| EnableDateRangeOptimization | This instructs the translator to optimize date range filters by moving them inside retrieve expressions. | This feature may be used with Measures. |
| EnableResultTypes | This instructs the translator to include inferred result types in the output ELM. | This feature may be used with Measures. |
| EnableDetailedErrors | This instructs the translator to include detailed error information. By default, the translator only reports root-cause errors. | This feature should not be used with Measures. |
| DisableListTraversal | This instructs the translator to disallow traversal of list-valued expressions. With Measures, disabling this feature would prevent a useful capability. | This feature should not be used with Measures. |
FHIR supports various types of terminology-valued elements, including:
These types correspond directly to the CQL primitive types:
In addition to the type of element, FHIR provides the ability to bind these elements to specific codes, in the form of a direct-reference code (constraint to a specific code in a CodeSystem), or a binding to a ValueSet. These bindings can be different binding strengths
Within CQL, references to terminology code systems, value sets, codes, and concepts are directly supported, and all such usages are declared within CQL libraries, as described in the Terminology section of the CQL Author’s Guide.
When referencing terminology-valued elements within CQL, the following comparison operations are supported:
For time-valued quantities, in addition to the definite duration UCUM units, CQL defines calendar duration keywords to support calendar-based durations and arithmetic. For example, UCUM defines an annum (‘a’) as 365.25 days, whereas the year (‘year’) duration in CQL is specifically a calendar year. This difference is important, especially when performing calendar arithmetic.
For example if we take a datetime and subtract a calendar year
@2019-01-01T05:00:00 - 1 year
This would resolve to 2018-01-01T05:00:00
However, if we take the same datetime and subtract a UCUM annum
@2019-01-01T05:00:00 - 1 'a'
This would resolve to 2017-12-31T23:00:00
See the definition of the Quantity type in the CQL Author’s Guide, as well as the Date/Time Arithmetic discussion for more information.
© HL7.org 2019+ (Clinical Quality Information WG). hl7.fhir.us.cqfmeasures#2.0.0 based on FHIR v4.0.1. Generated 2020-07-23.
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