In 2002, three hospital industry associations demonstrated leadership by joining with HHS, The Joint Commission, consumer organizations, and other stakeholders to create a more unified approach to reporting hospital performance information to the public. They launched the Hospital Quality Initiative—later re-named the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA)—and defined its role as:
- Identifying measures for reporting that are meaningful, relevant and understood by consumers;
- Rallying hospitals to participate in the initiative and act on the performance results; and
- Aligning stakeholders to reduce redundant and wasteful data collection and reporting.
From the beginning, HQA recommended NQF-endorsed measures because of the organization’s transparent, rigorous multi-stakeholder consensus process and strong evidence-based approach to endorsement.
In 2003, performance results for over 400 hospitals were reported on the CMS website for the first time. A year later, CMS began penalizing hospitals financially if they did not report to CMS the same performance information they were required to send to The Joint Commission to maintain hospital accreditation. Between 2003 and 2004, the number of hospitals reporting their results to CMS tripled—from over 400 to more than 1,400 hospitals. In 2005, CMS launched Hospital Compare. Today, over 4,000 hospitals simultaneously report performance data to CMS and The Joint Commission, and the number of measures collected has steadily increased. In 2012, The Joint Commission will incorporate hospital performance into its accreditation determinations for the first time.
Performance results improved steadily over the last eight years. A recent analysis of hospitals shows marked improvement based on NQF-endorsed measures between 2002 and 2009. More specifically, in 2002, about 20 percent of hospitals exceeded 90 percent performance on 22 key measures; by 2009 that percentage had climbed significantly to 86 percent. Key NQF-endorsed measures include measures related to heart attack and heart failure care, surgical care, children’s asthma care, and pneumonia care, among others.
Performance results improved steadily over the last eight years. A recent analysis of hospitals shows marked improvement based on NQF-endorsed measures between 2002 and 2009. More specifically, in 2002, about 20 percent of hospitals exceeded 90 percent performance on 22 key measures; by 2009 that percentage had climbed significantly to 86 percent. Key NQF-endorsed measures include measures related to heart attack and heart failure care, surgical care, children’s asthma care, and pneumonia care, among others.
