HHS receives recommendations on clinical metrics
At the request of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Measures Application Partnership (MAP) released its first two reports, each pointing to opportunities for more coordinated approaches to making healthcare safer and enhancing clinician performance.
MAP, a public-private partnership convened by the National Quality Forum, was created for the purpose of providing input to HHS on select performance measures for public reporting and performance-based payment programs. More than 60 organizations representing major stakeholder groups, 40 individual experts and nine federal agencies are represented in MAP.
The two reports focus on coordination and safety measures. The report, "Clinician Performance Measurement Coordination Strategy," identifies performance measure set characteristics for assessing clinician performance. These characteristics include alignment with National Quality Strategy priorities and high-impact conditions relevant to the program’s intended populations; measures for appropriate use within the intended care settings and levels of analysis.
The report also examined:
The second report, "Readmissions and Healthcare-Acquired Conditions Performance Measurement Strategy Across Public and Private Payors," identifies three areas for public-private efforts to reduce healthcare-acquired conditions and readmissions:
HHS has also requested that MAP provide multi-stakeholder input on performance measures to assess and improve the quality of care delivered to individuals who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, known as “dual eligibles.”
In its initial work regarding dual eligibles, MAP has developed a strategy for performance measurement and has identified opportunities to promote quality of care improvements to these populations.
A final report with MAP’s input on improving the quality of care to these populations is due to HHS on June 1, 2012.
MAP, a public-private partnership convened by the National Quality Forum, was created for the purpose of providing input to HHS on select performance measures for public reporting and performance-based payment programs. More than 60 organizations representing major stakeholder groups, 40 individual experts and nine federal agencies are represented in MAP.
The two reports focus on coordination and safety measures. The report, "Clinician Performance Measurement Coordination Strategy," identifies performance measure set characteristics for assessing clinician performance. These characteristics include alignment with National Quality Strategy priorities and high-impact conditions relevant to the program’s intended populations; measures for appropriate use within the intended care settings and levels of analysis.
The report also examined:
- An ideal coordination strategy for HHS and aligning performance measurement and other approaches to address hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions for all patients, regardless of who ultimately pays for their care.
- An ideal coordination strategy for HHS on federal clinical performance measurement, with recommendations to simultaneously accelerate improvement and a more cohesive system of care delivery because clinicians and the largest payers in the country will be focused on a select, targeted set of performance measures linked to achieving overall national goals for improved healthcare.
The second report, "Readmissions and Healthcare-Acquired Conditions Performance Measurement Strategy Across Public and Private Payors," identifies three areas for public-private efforts to reduce healthcare-acquired conditions and readmissions:
- The need for national core safety measures applicable to all patients.
- The need to collect data elements necessary for calculating the measures in the safety core set on all patients, regardless of care setting, age, or who pays their healthcare bills.
- The need to help public- and private-sector entities coordinate safer care efforts; shared “carrots” or incentives are key.
HHS has also requested that MAP provide multi-stakeholder input on performance measures to assess and improve the quality of care delivered to individuals who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, known as “dual eligibles.”
In its initial work regarding dual eligibles, MAP has developed a strategy for performance measurement and has identified opportunities to promote quality of care improvements to these populations.
A final report with MAP’s input on improving the quality of care to these populations is due to HHS on June 1, 2012.