The Quality Reporting Document Architecture Category I (QRDA-I) is a standardized, XML-based format for reporting individual patient-level data for quality measures. It is based on the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) and is used for submitting eCQM data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Identifying a QRDA-I File
A QRDA-I file is identified by specific template identifiers (templateId elements) in its header. For example, the following template ID indicates that the document conforms to the QRDA Category I specifications.
<templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.24.1.1"/>
Additionally, the code element of the ClinicalDocument indicates the type of CDA document. For QRDA-I files, the code should look like this:
<code code="55182-0" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.1" codeSystemName="LOINC" displayName="Quality Measure Report" />
Required Sections in a QRDA-I File
Per CMS and HL7 implementation guides, a QRDA-I must contain the following three required sections:
Section Name | Code | Description |
Patient Data Section | 55188-7 | Contains all the patient’s clinical data used for measure calculation |
Reporting Parameters Section | 55187-9 | Defines the performance period (start and end dates) for reporting |
Measure Section | 55186-1 | Identifies the quality measures being reported |
Each of these sections must contain at least one <entry> element. The entry elements express the actual clinical data, reporting period dates, or measure references.