Endorsing Additional Clinician-Level Performance Measures: Cancer Care, Infectious Disease, Non-Medical Doctor/Doctor of Osteopathy, Surgery and Anesthesia
Access the Final Report: National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Clinicians—Additional Performance Measures 2008
The Opportunity
To date, NQF has endorsed over 100 clinician-level performance measures in a variety of areas. However, significant gaps still exist. To meet CMS’s need for additional quality measures for use in the CMS Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), cancer care, infectious disease, non-medical doctor/doctor of osteopathy, surgery and anesthesia are now being included in this effort to promote accountability, quality improvement and to enable consumers to make informed decisions about where to seek care.
The clinician level cancer care project called for measures related to the following topic areas for the individual clinician: 1) hematology/oncology; 2) prostate cancer; 3) pathology pertaining to cancer. The clinical-level infectious disease project called for measures on 1) hepatitis prevention, treatment, and care management; 2) HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care management. The non-medical/doctor of osteopathy project identified measures for the following practitioners: podiatrists, chiropractors (manipulation only), oral surgeons, dentists, nurse anesthetists, clinical social workers, clinical psychologists and dietician/nutritionists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and qualified speech-language pathologists. The clinical-level surgery and anesthesia project called for measures on: 1) anesthesiology; 2) perioperative management; and 3) general thoracic surgery. This project will also review new procedure codes as additions to the peri-operative antibiotic measures endorsed earlier this year.
Statistics
Cancer Care
It is estimated that , nearly 1.41 million men and women in the United States developed cancer in 2006. While there have been great strides in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, there are still variations in medical practice that lead to sub-optimal care. To date, the NQF has endorsed performance measures for cancer care at the institutional level (e.g., hospitals, health plans) but not at the individual clinician level.
Infectious Disease
It is estimated that between 4-5 million individuals in the US have been infected with Hepatitis C, while 1-1.2 men and women in the US have HIV or AIDs. Additionally, caring for patients with Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS is complex and often involves a great deal of care coordination and management of co-morbid conditions. Despite the urgent need, there are very few NQF-endorsedTM performance measures pertaining to infectious disease.
Non-Medical Doctor/Doctor of Osteopathy Performance Measures
NQF has already endorsed measures appropriate for evaluation of physician assistants, nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists (prevention and screening, hypertension, diabetes, etc), and optometrists (eye care).
Surgery & Anesthesia
NQF has endorsed a number of performance measures applicable to ambulatory care surgical centers, cardiac surgery, and hospital-level surgery and anesthesia measures. However, significant gaps still exist.
About the Project
This project was completed in August 2008.
Results
This NQF report, National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Clinicians: Additional Performance Measures, 2008,identifies 67 clinician-level measures in four areas: cancer, infectious disease, perioperative and non-MD/DO.
Process
These standards have been endorsed by NQF as national voluntary consensus standards. They were identified through NQF’sConsensus Development Process(CDP, version 1.8).This project involved the active participation of representatives from across the spectrum of healthcare stakeholders and was guided by a steering committee.
Funding
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Related NQF Work
- National Voluntary Consensus Standards For Clinician Level Peri-Operative Care
- National Voluntary Consensus Standards For Non-Physician Professionals
- National Voluntary Consensus Standards For Clinician-Level Infectious Disease
- National Voluntary Consensus Standards For Clinician-Level Cancer Care
Contact Information
For more information, contact Lisa Hines at 202-783-1300 or via email, info@qualityforum.org.
Notes
1 American Cancer Society. Cancer Statistics-2006. Presentation can be accessed at: http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/Cancer_Statistics_2006_Presentation.ppt#282,13,2006 Estimated US Cancer Cases* Last accessed on October 2, 2007.
