Meaningful Use

What are the Meaningful Use Stage 1 Clinical Quality Measures?

An important objective set forth in the Meaningful Use Stage 1 final rule is that eligible professionals and hospitals who participate in the program must be able to record, store, and report clinical quality measures (CQM). In the Meaningful Use Stage 1 final rule, CMS defines CQM as the “processes, experience, and/or outcomes of patient care, observations or treatment that relate to one or more quality aims for health care such as effective, safe, efficient, patient-centered, equitable, and timely care.”

Below is information on how CQM affect various safety net providers found on CMS's Electronic Health Record Incentive Program CQM website.

Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAH)

Below are the Meaningful Use Stage 1 CQM objectives for EPs and hospitals.
- EHR Incentive Program Electronic Specifications
- Clinical Quality Measures: 15 Core Objectives
Eligible Professionals

Eligible professionals must report from the table of 44 clinical quality measures which includes, 3 Core, 3 Alternate Core, and 38 additional CQM.
- Some of the Meaningful Use Stage 1 CQMs for Eligible Professionals are taken from CMS’s Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).
- Core CQMs – Eligible professionals must report on 3 required core CQMs, and if the denominator of 1 or more of the required core measures is 0, then eligible professionals are permitted to report results for up to 3 alternate core measures.
- Eligible Professionals must also select 3 additional CQMs from a set of 38 CQMs (excluding the core/alternate core measures). For these additional measures, it is acceptable to have a '0' denominator provided the EP does not have an applicable population.

Please refer to the diagram below that shows the process for how EPs select Meaningful Use Stage 1 CQMs

Selecting Meaningful Use CQMs for EPs