Assessment of medication overuse headache in the treatment of primary headache disorders

Measure Purpose: Increase diagnosis of medication overuse headache (MOH), increase appropriate medication use, increase quality of life, decrease unnecessary costs, reduce disability

The numerator: Patients who were assessed for medication overuse headache (MOH)*

*See full specifications for additional details

is divided by

The denominator: All patients diagnosed with a primary headache disorder, who are actively taking an acute headache medication** and experiencing headaches > 15 days per month for 3 months, who were assess for medication overuse headache (MOH)

Exclusions are removed from the denominator for:

• Patient has already had MOH ruled out within the past three months
• The abortive pain medication is medically appropriate for a non-headache condition

Key Phrases

Key phrases you should use to meet the measure include:

• Assessed for medication overuse headache

Measure Calculation Example

Dr. Levesque had 50 patients with a primary headache disorder who were actively taking an acute headache medication and experiencing headaches > 15 days per month for at least 3 months. This is the denominator. Three patients already had MOH ruled out within the past three months and five patients are taking abortive pain medication for a non-headache condition. These patients are removed from the denominator.

Of the remaining 42 patients, 20 were assessed for medication overuse headache. This is the numerator.

Quality of care = 20/(50-8). Dr. Levesque has a score of 47% for this measure.