Home > About Us > Leadership > President's Report Archive > April 2002
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The new space and location are working out very well.
No changes since February. We are beginning to look for an additional program/project officer. Potential candidates should be referred to Elaine Power.
As noted in the 2001 Management Report, through mid-February 2001, four organizations had gone out of business and three organizations did not renew their membership for financial reasons. Since then, two additional small organizations have informed us that they are dissolving, and a few more may be headed in the same direction.
Several organizations are currently delinquent in their dues payment. We will soon be issuing "final notices" to these organizations to inform them that continuing in a non-paying status will result in a recommendation to the Board at its May 30 meeting to suspend their voting privilege.
With approval of the membership applications at this meeting, the total number of NQF member organizations will be 146. We are aware of several applications in progress.
Since the last meeting, the Council Chairs, Vice Chairs, and Secretaries met by phone with NQF staff to review plans for the Membership Meeting that was held on April 22, 2002. Both the Research and Quality Improvement (RQI) Council and the Provider and Health Plan (PHP) Council have met at least once by conference call to discuss projects in progress. The Purchaser Council has also met by conference call to plan its work for the Membership Meeting.
Jeff Kang informed the board in early April that he would depart CMS on May 3, 2002, to take up a position as Senior Vice President and National Medical Director for Clinical Programs and Operations at CIGNA Healthcare in Hartford, Connecticut. Jeff has been a champion of the NQF within CMS and his assistance, expertise, and collegiality will be very much missed.
It was with great sadness that we acknowledged the recent death of John Eisenberg. The loss of his leadership and enthusiasm leaves a great void in the healthcare quality arena. Pending NQF Board approval, NQF and JCAHO will soon announce establishment of the John M. Eisenberg Awards for Patient Safety, to honor individuals or organizations that demonstrate exemplary commitment to the type of improved patient care that John championed.
We are still seeking nominations for the open Board seat that is targeted for a corporate executive.
Negotiations with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Abt Associates on the subcontract to identify a core set of performance measures for public reporting were concluded on April 11, 2002. The award is for $216,500. Much of the work for this subcontract has already been completed, with the candidate measure set is currently in the consensus process.
The NQF also concluded negotiations with AHRQ and NCI for part I of a project to identify quality measures for cancer care. The award for this contract is for $193,750, and the performance period is April 1-September 30, 2002. It is expected that completion of this project's work, which is primarily a "scoping" effort, will result in a substantially larger part II of the project.
Follow-up conversations with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation regarding a FACCT-NQF partnership to identify a standardized reporting format for nursing home healthcare quality data leaves us with the impression that RWJF is unlikely to be a major supporter, although a small amount of funding is not out of the question. CMS expressed continued interest in such a project at the final meeting of the 'Nursing Home Measures' project, but the status of any potential funding is uncertain given the impending departure of Jeff Kang and the recent departure of Steve Clauser, who had been the primary CMS liaison to the 'Nursing Home Measures' project.
Serious Reportable Adverse Events in Healthcare: A Consensus Report
The final report was issued in March. Members were mailed three complimentary copies. Several organizations have taken advantage of the discount on bulk orders, buying 10-35 reports in a single order.
A meeting with the National Academy for State Health Policy is set for April 29, 2002, to discuss further actions regarding state adoption of the list and related matters.
Improving the Quality of Healthcare for Minority Patients: Workshop Proceedings
The workshop proceedings and commissioned papers are at the printers. We will coordinate release of the report with the Commonwealth Fund, which funded the workshop. Of note, the issue of healthcare quality for minority populations has received significant national media coverage in the past month due to articles in the peer-reviewed literature and the release of IOM's report on the topic.
A National Framework for Healthcare Quality Measurement and Reporting (formerly referred to as the Strategic Framework Board recommendations)
The document was revised in response to member comments. Most significantly the structure of the recommendations was altered to provide NQF members and outside readers a clear understanding of what "NQF approval" of a recommendation meant. Recommendations were characterized as policy statement/directives; short-term NQF operational principles; and longer-term NQF strategic issues. The report is currently out for member council vote.
IT Summit
The conference was held on March 6-7, 2002, at the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. The meeting generated considerable enthusiasm and, overall, appeared to be quite successful. We are respecting IOM's request that the meeting recommendations not be disseminated until they have been promulgated in an IOM-approved report, which is currently in preparation. In this regard, we are working through some copyright issues with IOM.
Safe Practices for Better Healthcare
This NQF draft report has just completed the initial review phase of the
consensus development process (final comments were due on April 18, 2002). The document generated significant comment. Based on this comment the report was completely reformatted and otherwise revised, and it was the first item to be discussed at the Spring Membership meeting on April 22, 2002. The report will be further reworked and sent out for a second round of review and comment prior to member voting. Of note, the NQF inadvertently adopted a report title (i.e., Making Healthcare Safer for Patients: Evidence-based Practices) that is virtually identical to AHRQ's title for the UCSF-Stanford contract report commissioned by AHRQ to, in part, provide background for the NQF report. Per AHRQ's request, we have changed the title. We are currently using the title shown above.
Hospital Performance Measures
The "Hospitals" Steering Committee completed its work to identify an initial set of hospital performance measures, and this product entered the formal review phase of the consensus process on April 18, 2002. Attendees at the Spring meeting were sent the package in advance so as to provide them an opportunity to review the material before its presentation and discussion at the Chicago meeting. The Steering Committee is on target to complete the second part of its task by the fall of 2002; this second part entails recommending a framework for updating the set and considering new measures.
Nursing Homes Performance Measures
The Steering Committee has completed its work and has recommended nine measures for long term skilled nursing facility care and four measures for post-acute care. This measure set is just beginning the consensus process.
CMS advises us that Secretary Thompson will unveil the government's six state pilot public reporting initiative in the very near future. This event will probably include a representative of NQF and some NQF Board members representing their organizations. Of note, this pilot reporting project continues to be controversial in some quarters.
Cancer Care Quality Measures
As above noted, the contract became effective on April 1, 2002. We have begun identifying Steering Committee members. The goal is to have the first Committee meeting in July/August, which is less than ideal but consequent to the difficulty encountered in finalizing the contract. To optimize attendance, an initial meeting may need to be deferred until September.
Diabetes Measures
The Review Committee held a conference call on April 16, 2002, and approved moving forward with the new "Alliance's" combined set of accountability and quality improvement measures. The Review Committee endorsed use of the expedited review process under the CDP.
Standardizing Credentialing for Independent Licensed Practitioners
Per JCAHO and NCQA's request, a workshop date and planning has been deferred until the two accrediting organizations work out some issues between themselves.
Payment Policy and Healthcare Quality
Planning for a project in this area has slowly progressed, and there is tentative agreement on support from a well known foundation. Further details of the project are being worked out.
We continue an active outreach effort that seems to be gradually expanding the membership.
The SFB papers are being finalized and will be published in an upcoming supplement to the journal Medical Care. An exact publication date has not been set, but it will certainly be within the next few months.
The first meeting of the new Strategic Advisory Council will be held on June 5, 2002, most likely at the NQF office. This initial meeting is planned to be a closed working meeting.