The Opportunity
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are captured in structured fields during patient care and are widely used (86% of office-based physicians and 96% of acute care hospitals use an EHR), making them increasingly important data sources for measure development. Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQMs) are specified to use EHRs as a source of data and are designed to enable automated reporting of measures using structured data.
Combining eCQMs with EHR data has the potential to provide timely and accurate information pertinent to clinical decision support and facilitate timely and regular monitoring health outcomes. While the increased use of EHRs and eCQMs holds promise for enhancing quality measurement, there is considerable variation in data quality.
About the Project
NQF will convene a technical expert panel (TEP) to identify the causes, nature, and extent of EHR data quality issues and recommend best practices for addressing these issues to increase scientific acceptability (i.e. reliability, validity), use and usability, and feasibility of eCQMs. This project aims to explore the challenges of assessing EHR data quality so that it can be combined with eCQMs to fulfill the promise of automated quality measurement.
Objectives:
The TEP will:
- Guide the approach to the environmental scan, including recommendations for key informants
- Review the NQF staff performed environmental scan of current data quality challenges and current practices
- Guide the development of a draft report and propose best practices for addressing data quality, recommend improvements to NQF’s eCQM evaluation processes and infrastructure
NQF Process:
Over an 18-month period of performance, NQF will:
- Convene a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) of no more than 20 experts to guide the development of project deliverables. NQF will convene the TEP to discuss the key issues outlined above and provide recommendations to the field. NQF will also engage relevant stakeholder groups from NQF’s diverse membership for input throughout this effort.
- Perform an environmental scan of the literature to understand EHR data quality and its impact on eCQM development, testing and implementation, and current practices for mitigating these issues
- Develop an environmental scan report summarizing key findings on the causes, nature, and extent of EHR data quality issues and the impact these have on the scientific acceptability, feasibility, and use and usability of eCQMs;
- Develop a comprehensive report synthesizing the tasks outlined above and providing recommendations for best practices for addressing EHR data quality challenges and promoting scientific acceptability, feasibility and usability of eCQMs.
- Assess NQF’s eCQM evaluation criteria, guidance and evaluation processes and develop recommendations for improvements that will support comprehensive review of eCQMs including consideration of data quality and implementation issues.
Funding:
This project is funded under a 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 Katie Goodwin or Ameera Chaudhry at 202.783.1300 or via email at EHRdataquality@qualityforum.org.