Statin Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease
Percentage of the following patients - all considered at high risk of cardiovascular events - who were prescribed or were on statin therapy during the measurement period:
- All patients who were previously diagnosed with or currently have a diagnosis of clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), including an ASCVD procedure; OR
- Patients aged 20 to 75 years who have ever had a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level ≥ 190 mg/dL or were previously diagnosed with or currently have an active diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia; OR
- Patients aged 40-75 years with a diagnosis of diabetes; OR
- Patients aged 40 to 75 with a 10-year ASCVD risk score of > 20 percent
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Group/Practice
Individual Clinician
Measure Info
ACP does not support “Statin Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease” at the individual physician and group practice levels because there is no testing data. It is well documented that statin therapy can positively impact cardiovascular complications of hypertension and diabetes. The net benefit provides a strong foundation for the treatment of blood cholesterol for the primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in adults. Different submission criteria could cause some confusion; it may be best to separate the performance measure into primary and secondary prevention. There are discrepancies between the American College of Cardiology (ACC) guideline and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations. The USPSTF recommends that clinicians prescribe a statin for the primary prevention of CVD for adults aged 40 to 75 years who have 1 or more CVD risk factors (i.e. dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, or smoking) and an estimated 10-year risk of a cardiovascular event of 10% or greater (grade B). The measure aligns with the ACC guideline, which is broader and does not require an ASCVD score for every patient. The performance measure numerator and denominator are well-specified. However, it is atypical to have ICD-10 codes as denominator exceptions. It creates administrative burden to document these codes. It is also unclear why these items are listed as exceptions when it makes more practical sense to list these as exclusions. The committee urges the developer to conduct performance measure testing.