The article, “Learning from the Past to Measure the Future,” highlights the findings of an initiative that engaged nearly two dozen leaders across the healthcare spectrum to envision the future of healthcare quality measurement. Convened by NQF and AHRQ, these leaders looked at current abilities to measure healthcare, discussed what has and has not worked, and formulated a vision for the future.

Cassel and Kronick note that we are at a “critical inflection point” of multiple policies and initiatives seeking to improve healthcare quality and value. At the same time, there are concerns that national improvement is not occurring quickly enough given the resources expended on measurement and reporting.

To support the future of quality measurement, the authors recommend that healthcare stakeholders align and reduce the number of measures in use and place greater emphasis on how measurement can support internal improvement efforts along with payment and accountability applications. They also call for the development of better measures through greater collaboration with measure users, such as garnering feedback from clinicians and healthcare organizations using measures at the point of care.

According to the authors, advances in technology have made it possible for the healthcare field to start leveraging the large amounts of data available from electronic health records, insurance claims, federal and state sources, and communities. Meanwhile, advances in delivery system integration have "created a platform whereby measurement can effectively be used for improvement and reporting with less cost."

"As attention rightly turns to reducing waste and improving the value of dollars spent by consumers, purchasers, and taxpayers, measurement science must keep pace," Cassel and Kronick write, adding that public-private partnerships can best deliver on the real goal of measurement: quality improvement.