Coronary Artery Disease: Beta Blocker Therapy - Prior Myocardial Infarction or Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVEF

Percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with a diagnosis of coronary artery disease seen within a 12 month period who also have a prior myocardial infarction or a current or prior LVEF <40% who were prescribed beta-blocker therapy.

Date Reviewed: November 19, 2017

Measure Info

MIPS 007 NQF 0070 CMS 007 NQF Endorsed
Measure Type
Process
Measure Steward
Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement
Clinical Topic Area
Coronary Artery Disease
Myocardial Infarction

Care Setting
Outpatient
Data Source
Electronic Health Records
Registry

ACP supports QPP measure 007: " Coronary Artery Disease: Beta-Blocker Therapy--Prior Myocardial Infarction or Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVEF < 40%)" because a performance gap exists and the measure represents an important and highly beneficial clinical concept. Additionally, measure specifications include appropriate exclusion criteria for documentation of medical, patient, or system reason for not prescribing beta-blocker therapy. However, skepticism exits surrounding consistency across operating systems to include all billing codes for appropriate exclusion criteria. Furthermore, while the measure is based on clinical recommendations of the ACCF/AHA/ACP/AATS/PCNA/SCAI/STS guideline for the diagnosis and management of patients with stable ischemic heart disease, there is some question surrounding the need for continued beta-blocker therapy for three years in low-risk patients in the contemporary era of revascularization. Lastly, while the myocardial infarction (MI) look-back period is limited to those occurring within the past 3 years, the measure specifications do not limit the “documentation of prior LVEF <40%” look-back period. It is unnecessarily burdensome for clinicians to look at all LVEF assessments in a complete patient history. Developers should consider revising the specifications to limit the look-back window and exclude patients with a normal LVEF without history of LVSD.