NQF may grant a time-limited endorsement to a candidate performance measure that meets all of the measure evaluation criteria and conditions for endorsement except the field testing requirement. Time-limited endorsed measures must undergo a two-stage evaluation process.
First, a measure with time-limited endorsement must be field tested before the 12 month endorsement period expires. During this period, the measure steward must field test the measure and provide the results of that testing, along with any relevant evidence, to the CSAC.
If the measure steward does not provide the results of its field tests to the CSAC, or ask for an extension before the expiration of the time-limited endorsement period, or if the results of the field tests fail to meet NQF’s measure evaluation criteria, the measure's time-limited endorsement will be allowed to expire. Alternatively, if testing results are submitted to and approved by the CSAC before the end of the time-limited endorsement period, the NQF Board of Directors can remove the time limitation on the measure’s endorsement.
Second, those measures that satisfactorily complete their field testing within the 24 month period are then evaluated under the same circumstances as measures that initially receive the full three-year NQF endorsement. That is, at the end of the measure's third year of NQF endorsement, the measure must undergo a full maintenance review, as outlined above. If, at the end of its third year of endorsement, the measure successfully completes the maintenance review process, the measure, like all NQF-endorsed measures, will undergo regular maintenance every three years.
After 24-months of time-limited endorsement the measure steward can ask for a 12 month extension to do for further field testing. If an extension is granted measure stewards are expected to perform testing on two versions of the measure – the version that runs off the original data source and one that is suitable for an electronic platform. Testing results and specifications for both the original measure and specifications suitable for electronic platform must be submitted to NQF at the end of the 12 month extension.
