The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently added to its list an additional four measures that focus on patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hip/knee replacement and pneumonia. NQF is a voluntary consensus standards-setting organization.
Resource use measures as defined by NQF are comparable measures of actual dollars or standardized units of resources applied to the care given to a specific population or event, such as a specific diagnosis or procedure. NQF said these new measures will provide vital data on how resources are used in these areas of care. Such data will help create a more efficient, less wasteful healthcare system.
These measures were endorsed as part of a larger NQF endorsement project to evaluate how resources are used in care delivery, as a result of keen interest from government and private payers. Several provisions in recent policy require use of resource data over the next several years to support efforts to move toward a value-based purchasing payment model, and private payers have been using these types of measures for several years.
Any party may request reconsideration of any of the four endorsed quality measures listed below by submitting an appeal no later than May 1 (to submit an appeal, go to the NQF Measure Database). For an appeal to be considered, the notification must include information clearly demonstrating that the appellant has interests directly and materially affected by the NQF-endorsed recommendations and that the NQF decision has had (or will have) an adverse effect on those interests.
With the goal of measuring how efficiently providers and payers perform, NQF in 2009 sought to identify and evaluate resource use measures, that is, comparable measures of actual dollars or standardized units of resources regarding the care of a specific population or event.
The standards-setting organization in January had endorsed resource use measures for diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, population-based per member per month index, as well as total cost per population-based per member per month index.
The four new measures were added to the list of voluntary standards to “offer a more complete picture of what is driving healthcare costs,” the resource use brief states. While it noted there are diverse perspectives on costs and resource use, NQF said it acknowledged the submitted measures are only a narrow perspective in curbing healthcare expenditures, helping stakeholders identify opportunities to cut costs and improve quality.
“Healthcare spending in the United States continues to rise without any significant gains in patient satisfaction, increased access to care, or higher-quality care,” NQF President and CEO Janet Corrigan said in a statement. “I’m confident that these additional measures–in conjunction with existing resource use measures in our portfolio–will help us better understand what is driving costs and create a more effective, efficient healthcare system.”
NQF this week also approved 14 perinatal measures, including childbirth, pregnancy and post-partum and newborn care, as well as 12 renal care measures, such as chronic kidney disease, end stage renal disease and dialysis treatment. The renal care measures will help ensure renal patients receive safe, high-quality, and compassionate care throughout the course of treatment.
For this project, NQF endorsed measures focused on care concerns such as mortality rates for facility dialysis patients, and hemoglobin levels in chronic kidney disease patients. NQF also endorsed measures related to vascular access and minimum dose with dialysis treatment and lipid profiles in chronic kidney disease patients. In all, 33 measures were evaluated against NQF’s endorsement criteria by a panel of providers, measurement experts, and consumer representatives; 12 measures were endorsed.