Screening for Malnutrition and Dysphasia and Referral for ALS
Measure purpose: Ensure patients are routinely screen for malnutrition and aphasia.
The numerator: Patients who were screened every 3 months (± 30 days) for malnutrition and dysphagia and, if screening result was positive (reporting signs and symptoms of declining nutrition status and/or dysphagia), referral to appropriate specialist was documented on date of positive screening.
is divided by
The denominator: Patients diagnosed with ALS phenotypes characterized by appropriate ICD codes
Exceptions are removed from the denominator:
- Patient declines malnutrition screening or follow-up
- Patient declines dysphagia screening or follow-up
Key Phrases
Examples of key phrases you could use to meet the measure include:
- “Screened for malnutrition concerns”
- “Nutrition Risk Score completed”
- “NRS completed”
Measure Calculation Example
Dr. Popov sees 100 patients between January 1 and December 31 diagnosed with ALS phenotypes. This is the denominator.
13 of these patients declined malnutrition screening or aphasia screening. These patients are removed from the denominator as they meet exceptions for this measure.
Of the remaining 87 patients, Dr. Popov screened 50 patients for malnutrition and aphaisa. Of those 50 patients, 30 screened positive and 20 were referred to appropriate specialists. This is the numerator.
Quality of patient care = 20 (negative screen) + 20 (referred to specialist)/(100-13). Dr. Popov has a score of 50% for this measure.