The Audit Readiness Gap: Why a Closed Gap Is Not the Same Thing as an Audit-Ready Gap

Most healthcare quality teams focus on collecting evidence. Far fewer focus on whether that evidence can be defended. In this episode, Peter Saah explores a growing challenge facing health plans as ECDS reporting expands: the difference between a closed gap and an audit-ready gap. Using a practical framework built around evidence acquisition, validation, and interpretation, Peter explains why audit readiness is not an audit-season activity—it is a production discipline that starts with the first chart retrieved, the first CCD processed, and the first abstraction decision recorded. Topics include: • What audit readiness actually means • Why evidence can be clinically correct but still create audit exposure • The three most common audit failure modes • How ECDS increases the importance of source validation and traceability • The Audit Defensibility Framework • Why high-performing plans build audit readiness into daily operations This episode is intended for healthcare quality leaders, HEDIS professionals, Medicare Stars teams, population health leaders, and health plan executives navigating the transition toward increasingly digital quality measurement.