Maintenance Appeals Period Open for Diabetes, Mental Health, and Musculoskeletal Measures 

Washington, DC – Appeals are now open for three sets of National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed® measures currently in the measure maintenance review process. The 39 measures, whose review process started in 2010 before the new NQF endorsement maintenance process was implemented, cover diabetes, mental health, and musculoskeletal topic areas. NQF Members and the public will have 30 days to request reconsideration of the endorsed measures in this project.

During the maintenance process, existing Steering Committees and Technical Advisory Panels from the Patient Outcomes project were called upon to review the measures, which cover diabetes; mental health measures, which span the topic areas of depression, bipolar disease, substance abuse, and ADHD disorder; and musculoskeletal measures, which address osteoarthritis, low back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and hip fracture.

As part of these reviews, the measure steward completed a measure maintenance form demonstrating that the measure continues to meet NQF’s endorsement criteria. Information was provided regarding any modifications in the measure specifications, current evidence supporting the measure focus, use of the measure since the last endorsement, performance scores on the measure demonstrating performance gaps or improvement, updated testing, and feasibility issues. Additionally, NQF obtained feedback on stakeholders’ experiences with the measure through a public and member comment period.

NQF is a voluntary consensus standards-setting organization. Any party may request reconsideration of the 39 endorsed recommendations, in whole or in part, by notifying NQF via email at appeals@qualityforum.org no later than June 16. For an appeal to be considered, the notification must include information clearly demonstrating that the appellant has interests that are 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.

Access the maintenance reviews: 

• Diabetes measures 
• Musculoskeletal measures 
• Mental Health measures 

NQF operates under a three-part mission to improve the quality of American healthcare by: 

• building consensus on national priorities and goals for performance improvement and working in partnership to achieve them;  
• endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance; and 
• promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.