The Opportunity
Trauma from both non-intentional and intentional injuries is the third leading cause of death in the United States.i These injuries account for millions of emergency department visits and hospital admissions, and in 2012, trauma-related disorders were the highest condition-related expenditure among adults ages 18-64 ($56.7 billion).ii These injuries are an important health problem given the years of productive life lost, disability, and financial cost.iii Although progress has been made in trauma care, a set of quality measures to evaluate the performance of trauma systems does not exist.
Measurement related to trauma care presents unique challenges, such as attributing performance across the trauma care continuum, including prehospital care and post-acute care. Responsibility for patient care and patient outcomes is distributed among multiple stakeholders, including regional and community actors. Providing a framework for measuring trauma outcomes and identifying measures and measurement gaps for this area presents a significant opportunity to make care better and safer for all Americans.
About the Project
In this project, a Committee will guide NQF in conducting an environmental scan to identify trauma measures and identify measurement gaps. The Committee will also develop a measurement framework and provide input on the appropriateness of risk adjustment and attribution methodologies, as well as feedback on how to include shared regional accountability in the framework.
Objectives
The Committee will:
- Provide guidance on the environmental scan for trauma measures
- Identify measurement gaps
- Develop a measurement framework, addressing issues such as risk adjustment and attribution methodologies, and accountability
NQF Process
Over a 12 month period of performance, NQF will conduct an environmental scan to identify measures and gaps, and develop a framework to measure related to trauma outcomes. This project is guided by a Committee that will provide input on the environmental scan and framework, using relevant elements of the NQF’s Consensus Development process to receive and review comments; however, the process will not involve voting or the endorsement of any product. Throughout this project, NQF will solicit input from the advisory group, including NQF membership and public stakeholders at key points in the project.
Funding
This project is funded under NQF’s contract with the Department of Health and Human Services. For information about the availability of auxiliary aids and services for NQF’s federally funded projects, please visit http://www.medicare.gov/about-us/nondiscrimination/nondiscrimination-notice.html.
Related NQF Work
Contact Information
For more information, please contact Jean-Luc Tilly or Whitney Noel at 202.783.1300 or via email at trauma@qualityforum.org.
iNational Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Health and Medicine Division, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A National Trauma Care System: Integrating Military and Civilian Trauma Systems to Achieve Zero Preventable Deaths after Injury. (Downey A, Berwick D, Berwick D, et al., eds.). Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2016. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK390327/. Last accessed September 2018.
iiAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Statistical brief #471: Top five most costly conditions among adults age 18 and older, 2012: Estimates for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. https://meps.ahrq.gov/data_files/publications/st471/stat471.shtml. Last accessed June 2018.
iiiNational Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A National Trauma Care System: Integrating Military And Civilian Trauma Systems To Achieve Zero Preventable Deaths After Injury. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2016.