NQF Applauds Continued Funding to Quality Measurement and Improvement for Medicare 

Washington, DC - On March 31st, the U.S. Senate passed the "Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (H.R.4302)" following last week’s consideration by the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation provides a one year update to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) in order to protect beneficiary access to Medicare physician services. The bill also includes important investments to continue the progress on quality performance and improvement.

Specifically, H.R. 4302 provides $5 million in funding for FY2014 and $15 million in funding for FY2015 that the National Quality Forum (NQF, referred to as the "Consensus Based Entity" in statute) can use to support ongoing quality measure endorsement work and to convene multi-stakeholder groups to review measures for use in Medicare and other payment programs. Building on funding available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, this new investment provides the necessary resources to meet the demands of critical quality measurement and improvement activities.

"We urge Congress to continue their work on comprehensive Medicare physician payment reform that rewards quality, while thanking them for their consistent, ongoing support of NQF,” said Christine K. Cassel, MD, President and CEO at NQF. "We look forward to continuing NQF's work on quality measurement endorsement and improvement that is needed to move us closer to a truly value based healthcare system."

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.

Learn more at www.qualityforum.org 

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