Access the Final Report: Measure Prioritization Advisory Committee Report
The Opportunity
Despite many ongoing government and private sector efforts to standardize quality measures, quality of health and health care continues to be highly variable in the United States. There is a strong need for the development of quality and cost measures that will ensure broad transparency on the value of care and support performance-based payment and quality improvement around the most prevalent conditions and health risks that account for the greatest share of health care spending. Thus, an assessment and strategic evolution of the current portfolio of measures is needed to ensure that the “right” measures are included.
Section 183 of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 provides funding for a consensus-based entity to prioritize, endorse, and maintain valid quality performance measures. This legislation and the National Quality Forum’s (NQF’s) subsequent contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) afforded NQF with the opportunity for the Formulation of a National Strategy and Priorities for Healthcare Performance Measurement. To achieve these goals, NQF approached the evolution of its endorsed measures portfolio strategically by constructing a working Measure Development and Endorsement Agenda.
About the Project
This project began in March 2010.
Project Factsheet (PDF) | Final Report (PDF)
The Measure Prioritization Advisory Committee was charged with identifying priority conditions and measure gap domains and sub-domains for a working Measure Development and Endorsement Agenda. This effort is intended to
enhance NQF’s portfolio of endorsed measures and serve as an input to the development of HHS’ National Quality Strategy. These gap areas represent priorities of focus for the field. The domains and sub-domains on each of the
gap prioritization lists are considered critical areas for measure development. The voting results reflect the Committee’s relative prioritization of these categories for future measure development.
Objectives
Key objectives of the project include:
- Alignment with the development of HHS’ National Quality Strategy;
- Construction of a clear Agenda to encourage direction of resources to high
leverage areas;
- Continuous scan of the environment to identify and make mid-course corrections,
as necessary; and
- Alignment of this work with expanded public reporting and payment reform in the context of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and meaningful use in the context of
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), as both of these laws require a robust set of performance measures to serve a variety of needs:
meaningful use measures, various new and emerging payment systems, and expanded public reporting.
Process
This project did not follow NQF's formal Consensus Development Process; no products were endorsed. NQF convened the Measure Prioritization Advisory Committee (advisory committee), which was created under previous HHS Task 6 work, to tap its ongoing expertise and build on the 20 Medicare condition and gap prioritization work that they recently completed. The advisory committee was charged with prioritizing measure gaps identified by additional sources or streams of work that define gaps in measures. The project allowed for relevant industry and public input. Further, the review and resulting recommendations were developed in alignment with NQF's role as a national voluntary consensus standards-setting organization.
Funding
This project was funded under NQF's contract with the Department of Health and Human Services, Consensus-based Entities Regarding Healthcare Performance Measurement.
Related Work
Prioritization of High-Impact Conditions
Contact Information
For more information, contact Strategic Partnerships at 1-202-783-1300.
NQF’s Measure Prioritization Advisory Committee has identified a consolidated list of measure gap domains and sub-domains for a measure development and endorsement agenda. The consolidated list is based on the Committee’s prioritization of child health conditions and risks as well as child health measure gap domains and sub-domains; population health measure gap domains and sub-domains; and Medicare conditions as well as Medicare measure gap domains and sub-domains.
NQF issued a call for nominations for the Measure Prioritization Advisory Committee. This call closed on August 3, 2009. In addition to the prioritization of the high-impact conditions, this committee will engage in a series of activities to identify gaps in endorsed measures, and will provide guidance on priorities for a measure development agenda.
For additional information on the Measure Prioritization Advisory Committee formation process, please refer to the Call for Nominations document.
Call for Nominations (PDF)
The Advisory Committee met through September 2010.
The Advisory Committee met via a web meeting on May 21, 2010. The web meeting was open to NQF Members and the public.
The Advisory Committee meeting was held on June 14-15, 2010, and was open to NQF Members and the public.
The Advisory Committee met via web meeting on July 22, 2010, and was open to NQF Members and the public.
The Advisory Committee met on August 18, 2010, and was open to NQF Members and the public.
The Advisory Committee has identified a consolidated list of measure gap domains and sub-domains for a measure development and endorsement agenda. The consolidated list is based on the measure gap domains and sub-domains from the Committee’s work in child health, population health, and Medicare. NQF held an interactive webinar for NQF members and the public to learn about the project as the public comment period begins.
The Committee released its report for the Measure Development and Endorsement Agenda Project.
The report includes the prioritization of: child health conditions, risks and measure gaps; population health measure gaps; and a consolidated list of measure gaps based on gaps identified in Medicare, child health, and population health.
Final Report (PDF) | Fact Sheet (PDF)
