Cooking with CQL Q&A: General CQL

Each Q&A has the Cooking with CQL session number and date. For the most current and accurate information, please check the CQL Qs&As for a more recent answer to your question.

CQL vs FHIRv4.0 nested structures: Is the structure of Clinical Quality Language (CQL) in a similar format to the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) 4.0 nested structure? (Session 53 - 4/22/21)

• Yes. The FHIR model information for CQL follows the same structure as in the FHIR documentation. The code, using FHIR version '4.0.1', tells the translator to bring FHIR into scope.

Additionally, the translator has built-in support for several versions of FHIR and the Quality Data Model (QDM) and now has support for dynamic loading of model information.

Databases in CQL: How do we actually use CQL against a database to generate results? Is this just another way to express measure functions, or does it run somewhere? (Session 25 - 5/31/18)

• CQL is designed to enable the description and distribution of eCQMs, but it also can be a basis for evaluation. There are at least two open source engine implementations of CQL that will actually evaluate the measures and supporting logic.