CMS Announces Standardized Quality Measures

CMS and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released seven quality measures yesterday that aim to reduce the cost of measuring clinical quality while supporting multi-payer alignment on core measures for physician quality programs.  The new measure sets will improve informed consumer decision-making, reduce variability in measure selection, collection burden, and cost, according to CMS.

“In the U.S. healthcare system, where we are moving to measure and pay for quality, patients and care providers, deserve a uniform approach to measure quality,” said CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt in a release. “This agreement will reduce unnecessary burden for physicians and accelerate the country’s movement to better quality.”

The core measures are in the following seven sets:

  • Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Patient Centered Medical Homes (PSMHs), and Primary Care
  • Cardiology
  • Gastroenterology
  • HIV and Hepatitis C
  • Medical Oncology
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Orthopedics

This first set of measures were developed by CMS, AHIP, and other healthcare system participants as part of a new broad Core Quality Measures Collaborative. The Collaborative plans on releasing additional measure sets over time. Commercial payers will begin using the measures as soon as possible, according to CMS.