NQF to Develop National Standards, Measurement for Patient Decision Aids 

Washington, DC — As people demand a greater say in decisions about their healthcare, a variety of tools called decision aids are increasingly being used to make it easier for patients and their clinicians to discuss treatment options. The National Quality Forum will help make sense of the proliferation of these patient resources, which commonly include pamphlets, videos, or web-based resources, by developing national standards for decision aids and a process for their certification. NQF also will work with a multistakeholder expert panel to define concepts for how to measure decision quality and shared decision-making.

“To transform the nation’s healthcare, shared decision-making between patients and providers must be much more routine,” said Helen Burstin, MD, MPH, chief scientific officer of NQF. “NQF’s work will develop standards to identify those evidence-based, reliable decision aids people need to make good personal decisions about their care and treatment and to be better equipped to discuss those decisions with their clinicians.”

Supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the one-year project builds upon prior work conducted by the International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) Collaboration and the Washington State Health Authority’s efforts to specify standards for patient decision-support interventions.

NQF has commissioned a white paper on standards for decision aids to inform the work of the expert panel that NQF will convene by mid-2016. A final report with the panel’s recommendations is expected in December 2016.

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The National Quality Forum leads national collaboration to improve health and healthcare quality through measurement. Learn more at www.qualityforum.org.