Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a qualified provider-led entity (QPLE). We are proud to be one of only 17 organizations across the nation approved by CMS to write appropriate use criteria for imaging.

Johns Hopkins Medicine unites physicians and scientists of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with the organizations, health professionals and facilities of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Health System. Johns Hopkins Medicine, which offers an array of health care services, has six academic and community hospitals, four suburban health care and surgery centers, over 40 patient care locations, a home care group and an international division.

Teams of faculty experts from across Johns Hopkins Medicine developed criteria for eight priority clinical areas designated by CMS:

• Coronary Artery Disease (AUC)
  • Unstable Chest Pain 
  • Stable Chest Pain 
• Pulmonary Embolism (AUC)
• Neck Pain (AUC)
• Low Back Pain (AUC)
• Shoulder Pain (AUC)
  • Traumatic Shoulder Pain 
  • Nontraumatic Shoulder Pain 
• Headache (AUC)
• Lung Cancer (AUC)
• Hip Pain*

* The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine endorses the High Value Practice Academic Alliance’s AUCs for hip pain. The alliance was established in 2017 by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine experts to serve as a national forum for academic institutions to collaborate on quality improvement, education and research related to high-value care and to engage trainees in this work.

As a leader in health care delivery, research and education, Johns Hopkins Medicine is committed to providing the highest quality patient care, based on evidence and standardized across the health system. Our high value care clinical leaders design system-wide diagnostic algorithms that can be embedded into our electronic health record system (Epic). These algorithms include appropriate use criteria for imaging developed in accordance with the CMS regulations for the eight clinical priority areas.

The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine satisfies the CMS regulations in the following ways:

1. We use an evidentiary review process to develop and modify appropriate use criteria.
2. A multidisciplinary team of physicians develops the criteria.
3. We require disclosures from all physicians and manage conflicts of interest.
4. We publish appropriate use criteria on our website.

We use an evidentiary review process to develop and modify appropriate use criteria.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine performs its own literature searches and creates evidence tables. We have a dedicated informationist from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Welch Medical Library, and we have defined procedures and policies for evidence collection and review. This process includes:

1. The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine performs literature reviews to identify high quality evidence, with searches developed by an informationist in cooperation with subject specialists.
2. The informationist helps translate clinical questions into functional search strategies using relevant databases (including but not limited to MEDLINE/PubMed). The informationist also updates the searches, as needed. Clinical guidelines and consensus statements by professional medical societies are included in the evidence assessment.
3. The search strategy results are uploaded to Covidence and reviewed in duplicate. Titles are excluded from the review when two independent reviewers determine to do so. Included titles are reviewed at the abstract and full article levels, with the same methodology applied.
4. Data from included articles are abstracted and the evidence is graded using University of Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine levels of evidence.

Additionally, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine collaborates with the Harvard Medical School Library of Evidence database when developing and modifying appropriate use criteria. The school of medicine reviews the library’s literature review and evidence grades assigned for each logic point and assesses whether the review and grading are acceptable, as required under CMS appropriate use criteria regulations.

A multidisciplinary team of physicians develops the criteria.

Our multidisciplinary team includes more than seven practicing physician members, with at least one having expertise in the clinical topic related to the appropriate use criteria being developed or modified. Academic and community practice physicians are represented to harmonize practice across both settings.

We manage conflicts of interest.

We use a transparent process to publicly identify potential conflicts of interest, and to resolve conflicts of interest of members of the multidisciplinary teams and any other party participating in appropriate use criteria development or modification. Resolution may include recusal or exclusion.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine requires all practicing physicians and staff members participating in the development of criteria to disclose information in accordance with the university’s conflict of interest policies.

In addition, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine requires all practicing physicians participating in the development of criteria to disclose the following information, which is made publicly available in a timely fashion upon request for at least five years after the most recent published update of the relevant appropriate use criteria.

1. Direct or indirect financial relationships among individuals, or their spouses or minor children, who substantively participated in the development or modification of criteria, and companies or organizations participating in the criteria development or modification that may benefit financially from the criteria. These financial relationships may include compensation arrangements such as salary, grants, speaking or consulting fees, contracts or collaboration agreements.
2. Ownership or investment interests among individuals, or their spouses or minor children, who substantively participated in the development or modification of criteria or may benefit financially from the criteria.

We publish appropriate use criteria on our website.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine transparently shares on its website the criteria, updates to the criteria, and how the institution meets requirements. Shared information includes:

• Relevant priority clinical area
• The title, authors and key references for evidence
• Whether the criteria is evidence- or consensus-based
• Any external parties involved in the criteria development

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Disclaimer: This work is intended for use to assist hospital and health care audiences. However, this work is for informational purposes only, and Johns Hopkins makes no representations or warranties concerning the content or clinical efficacy of this work, or its accuracy or completeness. Johns Hopkins is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for any bias, liability or damage resulting from the use of this work. This work is not intended to be a substitute for professional judgment, advice or individual root cause analysis.