PQA has published the 2022 PQA Measure Manual and Value Sets. The PQA Measure Manual includes detailed narrative specifications for PQA measures, which are needed to implement the measures accurately and appropriately. PQA Value Sets, which include National Drug Codes (NDCs), are required to calculate PQA measures as specified. 

The revised manual, published annually in late February, includes updates to measure specifications and the addition or removal of recently endorsed or retired measures. PQA maintains its measures to ensure they remain current, appropriate, and impactful in light of new treatments coming to the market or the emergence of new clinical guidelines and evidence.  

The value sets may change considerably from year to year, particularly the NDCs associated with each measure’s target medications. PQA provides an NDC update each year to licensees in late July to support ongoing monitoring and quality improvement initiatives. There is also an option for adding on a monthly NDC subscription for licensees to allow for more accurate monitoring, including the addition of new drugs that come to market throughout the year. 

Like measure development, measure maintenance and retirement are part of PQA’s systematic, transparent and consensus-based process to develop and maintain measures.  

The manual includes one newly endorsed health plan performance measure, Migraine Preventive Therapy (MPT) and two newly endorsed pharmacy performance measures, Proportion of Days Covered: Composite (Pharmacy) and Specialty Pharmacy Turnaround Time (Pharmacy). Two recently retired health plan performance measures were removed from the manual, Drug-Drug Interactions and Use of High-Risk Medications in the Elderly. 

Additional key changes to health plan measures in the manual were the addition of a palliative care exclusion to most PQA opioid measures and refinement of the Statin Use in Persons with Diabetes (SUPD) measure. For SUPD, the liver disease exclusion was refined to cirrhosis, as dapagliflozin/empagliglozin was removed from the target medication list to identify eligible population. 

PQA measures are used in a variety of federal, state, and regional quality programs, including the Medicare Part D Star Ratings, the Health Insurance Marketplace Quality Rating System, and the Medicaid Adult Core Set. 

Organizations enter into a license agreement to obtain approval to use PQA measures. Learn more by reviewing the PQA Measure Use and License Policy. There is a significant licensing discount for PQA members; and, as a benefit to PQA members, organizations may request a license for noncommercial use of the PQA Measure Manual for no fee. 

For additional information about licensing or for questions about PQA measures, please visit the Measure Use and Licensing page of the PQA website. Please submit any questions about PQA measures, using the PQA Technical Assistance Request Form.