The Payment Reform Landscape: Which Quality Measures Matter?

Over the past 15 years there have been major changes in the measures we have at our disposal to assess the quality of care. We have gone from decentralized disorganization to measures that have been “standardized” through various multi-stakeholder consensus processes, including that of the National Quality Forum. And where there was a dearth of standard quality measures, some now argue we have too many (600-plus and counting), but not the right ones. This has led to initiatives like the Measure Applications Partnership, the Institute of Medicine’s report “Vital Signs: Core Metrics for Health and Health Care Progress,” and the America’s Health Insurance Plans Core Measures Collaborative. Each of these efforts has sought or continues to seek, for different purposes, a carefully selected subset of measures. Currently, the consensus processes around quality measures are dominated by the supply side of the market; physicians, hospitals, and health systems have greater expertise and resources to bring to the table than their buy-side counterparts, other than large public purchasers such as Medicare. This has created an unfortunate tilt in the commercial market toward provider-centric measures instead of patient-centric ones. While employers and other health care purchasers, along with consumer representatives, are usually invited to join the discussion, they often lack the bandwidth and know-how to balance the conversation and center it on the patient. What would be dif...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Insurance and Coverage Organization and Delivery Payment Policy Quality AHIP Core Measures Collaborative employers IOM report National Quality Forum Payment Reform Landscape quality measures Suzanne Delb Source Type: blogs