Joyce Dubow is a principal for health policy and strategy at AARP. She is an NQF Board member and has participated in numerous NQF-related activities, including serving as the inaugural chair of the Consensus Standards Advisory Committee and currently co-chairing the NQF work group on linking cost and quality measures. NQF recently talked with Joyce about the importance of efforts to reduce readmissions and NQF’s work.
NQF: Why is the readmissions issue important for patients, particularly Medicare beneficiaries?
JD: Readmissions is an important concern for consumers because it’s a possible sign of system failure, that perhaps care was not properly coordinated. Reducing readmissions is a patient-focused issue of safety and quality. Nobody wants to be in the hospital needlessly. We want people to have safe, effective care the first time around.
NQF: How has AARP engaged with its members on the readmission issue?
JD: AARP has identified readmissions as an important policy issue and we’ve engaged our members through education and advocacy. We provide them with guidance about readmissions, smooth transitions, and care coordination. We advocate at the national and state levels, regularly commenting on readmission legislation and regulations and marshalling our advocacy forces in support of reducing potentially avoidable rehospitalization.
NQF: How does NQF bring value to these efforts and to your members?
JD: NQF’s consensus process reflects the views—and the needs—of diverse stakeholders. This is hugely important to the credibility and acceptance of measures across the board. As a national consumer organization, participating in a process where experts and interested parties come together to identify best-in-class performance measures is an essential service—no consumer organization has the technical capacity to do that kind of assessment on its own, and we benefit from the collective wisdom and collaboration at the NQF table.
It’s also important at the state level as many states are in the process of selecting measures for various programs. The ability to point to NQF-endorsed measures and the MAP recommendations is of great importance. It means that others who are stretched thin and don’t have the technical capacity have a reliable and highly credible source and don’t have to vet measures on their own. NQF endorsement represents an invaluable resource that supports the work of multiple constituencies, including mine—the consumer audience.