Perioperative Care: Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Prophylaxis

This measure was developed using the PCPI exception methodology which uses three categories of exception reasons for which a patient may be removed from the denominator of an individual measure. These measure exception categories are not uniformly relevant across all measures; for each measure, there must be a clear rationale to permit an exception for a medical, patient, or system reason. Examples are provided in the measure exception language of instances that may constitute an exception and are intended to serve as a guide to clinicians. For this measure, exceptions may include medical reason(s). Although this methodology does not require the external reporting of more detailed exception data, the PCPI recommends that physicians document the specific reasons for exception in patients’ medical records for purposes of optimal patient management and audit-readiness. The PCPI also advocates the systematic review and analysis of each physician’s exceptions data to identify practice patterns and opportunities for quality improvement.

Documentation of medical reason(s) for patient not receiving any form of VTE prophylaxis (LMWH, LDUH, adjusted-dose warfarin, fondaparinux or mechanical prophylaxis) within 24 hours prior to incision time or 24 hours after surgery end time