2025 Updates to the Malnutrition Care Score: Expanding Age Criteria to Enhance Malnutrition Care and Improve Health Equity

Credentialed nutrition and dietetics practitioners are uniquely positioned to communicate annual changes to the Global Malnutrition Composite Score to promote adoption of this landmark electronic clinical quality measure. With input from various stakeholders, advances in nutrition care processes, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidance, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Commission on Dietetic Registration have instituted improvements to better align with the measure's intent. Beginning in reporting year 2026, the Global Malnutrition Composite Score will undergo a name change to the Malnutrition Care Score, consistent with its goal to enhance the identification and treatment of malnutrition in patients hospitalized for 24 hours or longer. In addition, a significant expansion of the inclusion group occurs from 65 years and older to 18 years and older, recognizing the presence of malnutrition in younger people. Excluded for the first time are hospice patients, whose care needs are likely inconsistent with the measure's intent. Refinements in measure logic will ease the implementer's burden and, more importantly, better align with clinical best practices by prioritizing the most recent nutrition assessment to identify patients with worsening clinical courses or iatrogenic malnutrition during their hospital stay and more accurately capture eligible encounters based on admission and discharge dates. Value set changes ensure accurate and automated collection of information to meet the updates. Armed with this knowledge, credentialed nutrition and dietetics practitioners can communicate Malnutrition Care Score improvements and offer invaluable expertise to assist organizations in the measure's implementation and demonstrating the effectiveness of malnutrition care.