EMG Utilization for Patients with Isolated Lower Back Pain

Measure Purpose: Reduce the number of patients with lower back pain who had electromyography (EMG) for diagnosis.

NOTE: This is an inverse measure. A lower score means you're providing higher quality care. 

The numerator: Patients who had an EMG for diagnosis of isolated lower back pain

is divided by

The denominator: Patients 18 and older diagnosed with isolated lower back pain

Exclusions are removed from the denominator:

• Patients who have radicular symptoms documented
• Diagnosed with malignant neoplasm of spinal cord
• Diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome
• Diagnosed with sciatica
• EMG performed by another provider
• EMG clinically indicated to rule out another comorbidity
• EMG ordered by another provider

Key Phrases

Examples of key phrases you could use to meet the measure include:

• EMG clinically indicated
• EMG needed to rule out…
• Radiculopathy noted
• Pain that radiates down the leg reported 

Measure Calculation Example

Dr. Ige has 100 patients diagnosed with isolated lower back pain between January 1 and December 31. Twelve patients were diagnosed with sciatica and two patients reported radicular symptoms. They meet exclusions and are removed from the initial population. (100-(12+2)=86. This is the denominator.

Of the 86 patients, 12 had an EMG for diagnosis of isolated lower back pain. The numerator is 12.

Quality of patient care = 12/(100-(12+2)). Dr. Ige has a score of 13.95% for this measure. A lower score indicates better care for this measure.