Family History Reminders

Family history can sometimes be challenging to properly abstract. As you know, the presence or absence of cancer must be documented for all 1st degree relatives (parents, siblings, offspring) and all 2nd degree relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, half siblings). The age of diagnosis for each relative with cancer must also be included. Here are a few other reminders to consider when abstracting the family history measure:

• Family history can be found in many places within the EMR. Please be sure to check all areas of the EMR where family history might be found. This can include visit notes, as well as patient intake forms that may be scanned into the EMR. 
• If the patient had a visit with a genetic counselor, you may mark "Yes" to 1st and 2nd degree relatives along with age of diagnosis, even if you cannot view the pedigree.
• If a patient undergoes Myriad MyRisk genetic testing, you may mark "Yes" to 1st and 2nd degree relatives along with age of diagnosis. A family history questionnaire is included with this type of testing, which meets the measure. 
• A notation in the visit notes stating that there are no 1st or 2nd degree relatives with a history of cancer, or a statement to this effect would also meet the measure. 
• If the MiGHT Family History tool was utilized, this meets the measure. 
• Please note that grandchildren are not included as 2nd degree relatives for MOQC purposes. 
• A summary can be found here: https://moqc.org/wp-content/uploads/Family-History-1-pager.pdf
• A family history abstraction guidance video is also available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr7syyxjHfY

Please feel free to comment and add anything I may have missed and ask questions if you have any.