New HEDIS tip sheet for DSF-E

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) includes an important measure for Depression Screening and Follow-Up for Adolescents and Adults (DSF-E) in their Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is adding this measure to the Star ratings program for 2029, corresponding to the 2027 HEDIS measurement year.

The DSF-E measure assesses the percentage of patients 12 years of age and older (18 years of age and older for Medicare) who were screened for clinical depression using a standardized instrument and if screened positive, received follow-up care.

In support of NCQA and CMS efforts to address critical behavioral health gaps and underscore the importance of behavioral health as an essential component of overall care, CarePartners of Connecticut has developed a HEDIS tip sheet offering insight into the DSF-E measure. The new tip sheet identifies eligible depression screening instruments, follow-up criteria, measure exclusions, and best practices intended to optimize your HEDIS rates and identify opportunities to improve patient care.

As you may know, HEDIS is a major component of the CMS Star Rating system, which uses clinical performance data from HEDIS to help evaluate the overall quality of Medicare health plans and assist members in selecting the best plan for them.

For the full collection of CarePartners of Connecticut’s tip sheets currently available to providers, refer to the HEDIS tip sheet page on our provider website. And as always, be sure to look to future issues of Provider Update for new information as we continue to develop additional tip sheets.

HEDIS® is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).