Washington, DC – The
National Quality Forum (NQF) Board of Directors has endorsed 22 quality
measures addressing cancer care. They
are focused on conditions such as leukemia, prostate cancer, and multiple
myeloma, but also on issues that affect care delivery – including radiation
dose limits, hospice readmissions, and care planning.
“The National Cancer Institute estimates that half of men
and one third of women in the United States will develop cancer in their
lifetime,” said Laura J. Miller, FACHE, interim CEO of NQF. “Given this widespread
impact, NQF is pleased to endorse a set of measures that will help cancer
patients across the country receive safe, high-quality care.”
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the country,
with diagnosis and treatment costing more than $260 billion per year. Despite progress
in both prevention and treatment, cancer care is still often inconsistent or
inappropriate. Studies have shown, for example, significant socioeconomic
disparities in treatment and survival across a range of cancers.
“Cancer care is often complex, with many patients facing
complicated treatment regimens, individualized therapies, and rapidly changing
evidence for existing treatments,” said Stephen Lutz, MD, radiation oncologist
at Blanchard Valley Regional Cancer Center and chair of the Cancer Steering
Committee. “This measure set will help address those complexities and promote
the delivery of high-quality cancer care.”
The measures include those that have been endorsed for at
least three years and are now undergoing NQF endorsement maintenance. The
ongoing evaluation and updating of endorsed measures ensures they are current
and relevant to NQF’s cancer portfolio. In all, 26 measures were evaluated
against NQF’s endorsement criteria, with 22 receiving endorsement status.
Notably, five measures maintaining endorsement concentrate
on palliative care, an increasingly important area for quality measurement and
improvement. The measures deal with overtreatment of terminally ill patients,
specifically addressing patient preferences and utilization of services at the
end of life.
NQF is a voluntary consensus standards-setting organization.
Any party may request reconsideration of any of the 22 endorsed quality
measures listed below by submitting an appeal no later than September 10 (to submit an appeal, go to the NQF Measure Database). For an appeal to be considered, the
notification must include information clearly demonstrating that the appellant
has interests 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.
Endorsed Measures
Hematology and
Melanoma
- 0377: Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and Acute
Leukemias – Baseline Cytogenetic Testing Performed on Bone Marrow (AMA-PCPI)
- 0378: Documentation of Iron Stores in Patients
Receiving Erythropoietin Therapy (AMA-PCPI)
- 0379: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) –
Baseline Flow Cytometry (AMA-PCPI)
- 0380: Multiple Myeloma – Treatment with
Bisphosphonates (AMA-PCPI)
- 0562: Overutilization of Imaging Studies in
Melanoma (AMA-PCPI)
- 0650: Melanoma Continuity of Care – Recall
System (AMA-PCPI)
Oncology
- 0381: Oncology: Treatment Summary Communication
– Radiation Oncology (AMA-PCPI)
- 0382: Oncology: Radiation Dose Limits to Normal
Tissues (AMA-PCPI)
- 0383: Oncology: Plan of Care for Pain – Medical
Oncology and Radiation Oncology (paired with 0384) (AMA-PCPI)
- 0384: Oncology: Pain Intensity Quantified –
Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology (paired with 0383) (AMA-PCPI)
- 0386: Oncology: Cancer Stage Documented
(AMA-PCPI)
- 1854: Barrett´s Esophagus (Eligible for
Time-Limited Endorsement) (College of American Pathologists)
Prostate and Lung
- 0389: Prostate Cancer: Avoidance of Overuse
Measure – Bone Scan for Staging Low-Risk Patients (AMA-PCPI)
- 0390: Prostate Cancer: Adjuvant Hormonal Therapy
for High-Risk Patients (AMA-PCPI)
- 1790: Risk-Adjusted Morbidity and Mortality for
Lung Resection for Lung Cancer (Society of Thoracic Surgeons)
- 1853: Radical Prostatectomy Pathology Reporting
(Eligible for Time-Limited Endorsement) (College of American Pathologists)
Palliative
- 0210: Proportion receiving chemotherapy in the
last 14 days of life (American Society of Clinical Oncology)
- 0211: Proportion with more than one emergency
room visit in the last days of life (American Society of Clinical Oncology)
- 0213: Proportion admitted to the ICU in the last
30 days of life (American Society of Clinical Oncology)
- 0215: Proportion not admitted to hospice
(American Society of Clinical Oncology)
- 0216: Proportion admitted to hospice for less
than 3 days (American Society for Clinical Oncology)
- 1822: External Beam Radiotherapy for Bone
Metastases (American Society for Radiation Oncology)
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.
