Falls: Screening, Risk-Assessment, and Plan of Care to Prevent Future Falls

This measure has three rates. The numerators for the three rates are as follows:

A) Screening for Future Fall Risk: Patients who were screened for future fall* risk** at last once within 12 months
B) Falls Risk Assessment: Patients who had a risk assessment*** for falls completed within 12 months
C) Plan of Care for Falls: Patients with a plan of care**** for falls documented within 12 months.

*A fall is defined as a sudden, unintentional change in position causing an individual to land at a lower level, on an object, the floor, or the ground, other than as a consequence of a sudden onset of paralysis, epileptic seizure, or overwhelming external force. 

**Risk of future falls is defined as having had had 2 or more falls in the past year or any fall with injury in the past year.

***Risk assessment is comprised of balance/gait assessment AND one or more of the following assessments: postural blood pressure, vision, home fall hazards, and documentation on whether medications are a contributing factor or not to falls within the past 12 months.

****Plan of care must include consideration of vitamin D supplementation AND balance, strength and gait training.

Screening for Future Fall Risk: Assessment of whether an individual has experienced a fall or problems with gait or balance. A specific screening tool is not required for this measure, however potential screening tools include the Morse Fall Scale and the timed Get-Up-And-Go test.