The Opportunity
A healthy childhood sets the stage for improved health and quality of life in adulthood. The Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) accelerated interest in pediatric quality measurement and presented an unprecedented opportunity to improve the health care quality and outcomes of the nation’s children, including the almost 40 million children enrolled in Medicaid and/or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This work adds to the NQF pediatric measure work through the Measure Applications Partnership, which continues its work to improve the resources available to monitor quality and facilitate quality improvement in Medicaid and CHIP.
This project will identify and consider for NQF endorsement performance measures to address high-priority topics within child health. A specialized focus on pediatric quality measurement is driven, in part, by the increasing recognition that health and healthcare needs of children are significantly different from those of adults.
About the Project
The Pediatric Measures 2016-2017 project
launched in October 2016. This project will evaluate
measures related to child health that can be used for accountability and public
reporting for all pediatric populations and in all settings of care. This
project will address topic areas including but not limited to:
- Services to promote healthy
birth
- Child- and
adolescent-focused clinical preventive services and follow-up to preventive
services
- Child- and
adolescent-focused services for management of acute conditions
- Child- and
adolescent-focused services for management of chronic conditions
- Cross-cutting topics:
- Quality of health care for
children/adolescents in foster care
- Care coordination
Objectives
A
multi-stakeholder Committee will evaluate newly submitted measures and make
recommendations for which measures should be endorsed as national consensus
standards. This Committee will work to identify and endorse new performance
measures for accountability and quality improvement that specifically address
the area of pediatric care.
NQF Process
Candidate
consensus standards will be considered for NQF endorsement as national
voluntary consensus standards. Consensus on the recommendations will be
developed through NQF’s formal Consensus Development Process (CDP, Version 1.9). This project involves the
active participation of representatives from across the spectrum of healthcare
stakeholders and will be guided by a Committee.
Funding
This
project is funded under NQF’s contract with the Department of Health and Human
Services.
Related NQF Work
Contact Information
For further information, contact Suzanne Theberge, MPH,
Senior Project Manager via email at PediatricPerformanceMeasures@qualityforum.org.