NCQA updates standards for ACO designation

New guidance provides accountable care organizations (ACOs) with the ability to collect and report their quality performance data in standardized ways: The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has published Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) 2013 Technical Specifications for ACOs.

HEDIS is a tool used by more than 90 percent of U.S. health plans to measure performance on dimensions of care and service. Altogether, HEDIS consists of 75 measures across eight domains of care. Because so many plans collect HEDIS data, and because the measures are so specifically defined, HEDIS makes it possible to effectively compare health plan performance.

NCQA said it has specified 35 measures for ACOs that will ultimately allow for apples to apples comparisons, which should be valuable to payers and patients across the U.S. The technical specifications help ACOs define populations for ACO measurement, follow appropriate sampling and data collection methods and report ACO performance to NCQA. All ACOs are eligible to submit measure results, which will enable NCQA to create performance benchmarks and track ACO improvement over time. 

“Releasing these measure specifications is an important step in making ACOs a functioning, vibrant part of American healthcare,” said Mary Barton, MD, MPP, NCQA's VP of performance measurement.