Home > About Us > Leadership > President's Report Archive > February 2006
Click here to login to the members area.
Janet M. Corrigan, PhD, MBA has accepted the position of President and CEO, and the National Committee for Quality Health Care and NQF will merge, with the new organization retaining the name, “National Quality Forum.”
There has been one staff departure-a Research Analyst resigned to pursue other opportunities. Two individuals have been hired since the last report: Karen Pace, RN, BSN, MSN, PhD has joined the staff as a Senior Program Director, and Katherine Griffith has joined as a Research Assistant.
If all applications are approved at this meeting, NQF membership will stand at 306. A few organizations have indicated they will not be renewing; a more complete report on the renewal/non-renewal rate will be provided at the May meeting.
All Member Councils continue to meet regularly by conference calls.
The NQF 2006 Spring Membership meeting will be held in Miami at the Radisson Miami Hotel from Monday, May 15 to Wednesday, May 17. The schedule and summary of meetings planned is:
The 7th Annual Meeting will be held at the Grand Hyatt Washington, DC, on October 12-13, 2006. As the time draws closer, we will again work with Member Council leadership and an Annual Meeting Program Committee to develop the program.
Jeffrey L. Kang, MD, MPH and Peter V. Lee, JD, joined the NQF Board of Directors in February 2006. Additionally, the Governance Committee will recommend a candidate to fill the “state health director” slot at the February 2006 meeting. Changes to the by-laws to increase the Board as a result of the merger also will be reviewed.
The Texas Medical Institute of Technology has awarded a grant to NQF to conduct a national voluntary consensus standards project for the public reporting of healthcare-associated infections data in the United States. Additional funding for the project has been contributed by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), individual state APIC chapters, and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA); other contributions are pending.
Contract arrangements were finalized with sanofi-aventis for an unrestricted education grant to convene a separate invitational conference on venous thromboembolism (VTE) as an ancillary activity to the project it is funding to endorse a framework and practices for prevention and care of VTE, along with development, testing, and endorsement of measures for such. (The latter is in partnership with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations [JCAHO].) The conference is scheduled for March 24, 2006 and will be held at the Renaissance Hotel, Washington, DC.
Sanofi-aventis also has awarded NQF an unrestricted grant to convene a small workshop in early Fall 2006 on “metabolic syndrome.”
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) awarded NQF a grant for a follow-up project to the workshop on evidence-based substance use disorders treatments. This project will seek consensus on practices in the seven areas identified by the workshop participants.
RWJF also awarded NQF a grant to create a system and database to monitor and track implementation of the NQF-endorsed nursing-sensitive measures.
At RWJF’s request, we have submitted a brief proposal to compile a systematic, comprehensive measure matrix that maps existing measures to the NQF-endorsed priorities for measurement and reporting in order to identify areas where measures are lacking and need to be developed.
National Framework and Preferred Practices for Palliative and Hospital Care
A proposed draft framework and preferred practices advanced to the review phase of the Consensus Development Process (CDP). The due date for comments was February 16, 2006, and the project’s Review Committee has convened by conference call. We anticipate that a revised voting draft will be advanced to NQF Members during the first week in March.
VTE Performance Measures and Conference
The Steering Committee met on December 19, 2005, to finalize its recommendations for policy, key characteristics of practices, and measures for prevention and care of VTE; two CMS Surgical Care Infection Program measures for VTE prophylaxis in surgery patients were recommended for endorsement. JCAHO’s measure development work is ongoing and it is anticipated that additional measures will be considered by the Steering Committee next year. As noted earlier, the date for the VTE conference is March 24, 2006.
Cancer Care Quality Measures
NQF Discussions with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have lead to the request that NQF delay the launch of the report for breast and colorectal cancer. Such a delay would permit NCI to work with the American College of Surgeons on pilot testing of a select group of colorectal and breast cancer measures that were considered by the Steering Committee as nearly ready for endorsement for the purpose of accountability. The Symptom Management/End-of-life Care report is being finalized and should advance to the review phase in March 2006. (It is anticipated that the breast and colorectal report testing will be ready for consideration in the latter part of 2006.)
Institute for Quality Laboratory Management
As previously noted, CDC has provided additional funding for the second year of the cooperative agreement. On January 11, 2006, NQF convened an invitational workshop on defining quality for laboratory medicine. As follow-up to the workshop, NQF will commission a paper to provide a review of an existing targeted set of laboratory medicine quality measures and discuss proposed implementation strategies from the laboratory’s perspective.
National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Hospital Care—Additional Priority Areas, 2005
NQF has been informed by the developer of the care coordination measures that the additional administrative specifications would be forwarded to NQF in late February/early March 2006. The revised risk adjustment recommendation endorsed by the Board in the December 8, 2005, meeting did not receive any appeals.
Ambulatory Care Quality Measures
The final report for the Cycle 1 measures is in the publication process and should be available in mid-March 2006. The specifications have been available in electronic format since clearing the appeals period.
Phase 3, Cycle 1 of the project, which encompasses measures for the following priority areas: asthma, coordination of care, hypertension, medication management, obesity, and prevention, is drawing to a conclusion. The Steering Committee met on December 14-15, 2005, to consider the TAPs’ recommendations and a draft consensus report of the Cycle 1 measures is currently out for comment with comments due by March 3, 2006.
Phase 3, Cycle 2 was launched on February 22, 2006, with a conference call of the Steering Committee to determine the scope for the five priority areas to be considered in this Cycle. Measures in the following priority areas will be considered in this Cycle: diabetes, heart disease, prenatal, behavioral/substance use disorders, and bone care.
RWJF has identified the two additional priorities it wishes NQF to address in the ambulatory care project: healthcare disparities and efficiency. Currently, NQF is soliciting nominations for individuals to serve as members of the Healthcare Disparities TAP, and nominations are due March 10, 2006. Efficiency measures will be considered in Phase 3, Cycle 3, which will not begin until late summer 2006.
Voluntary Consensus Standards for Adult Diabetes Care: 2005 Update
Because diabetes will cease to be a project in and of itself and will merge with the larger ambulatory project for Phase 3, Cycle 2 in Spring 2006, the 2005 update report will be published in an electronic format only in March 2006.
Implementation of NQF-Endorsed Voluntary Consenus Standards: National Conference
On May 9, 2005, NQF convened, at the behest of the CMS, a conference to identify opportunities and barriers to implementation of NQF-endorsed consensus standards. The final, published conference summary will be available at the Board meeting.
Standardizing a Measure of Patient Experience (HCAHPS)
CMS is currently conducting training for vendor and provider applicants on administering the survey which is anticipated to be implemented nationally in the latter part of 2006, with results reported to the public in late 2007.
Pay for Performance Programs: Guiding Principles and Design Strategies
As previously noted, several Members have indicated strong support for NQF to undertake a consensus project on pay for performance program guiding principles and design strategies. RWJF declined to fund the project, and so we are continuing to explore funding opportunities.
Evidence-based Practices for Substance Use Disorders (SUD)
On December 13, 2004, NQF convened a workshop, funded by RWJF to identify a set of evidence-based treatments for substance use disorders that are widely recognized as being important components of effective treatment programs. As noted earlier, a follow-up project funded by RWJF has commenced to establish consensus on practices in the seven areas identified by the workshop participants. A call for substance use disorder practices has been issued, with submissions due by March 13, 2006.
Safe Practices for Better Healthcare
The deliberations of the Safe Practices CSMC are largely complete, and a final document is being prepared. It is anticipated that it will be advanced to the review phase of the CDP in Spring 2006.
Serious Reportable Adverse Events in Healthcare
The “Never Events” CSMC met in person on October 5, 2005, and is finalizing its recommendations. A draft report for consensus is expected in March 2006.
Hospital Performance Monitoring Systems
A comprehensive quality/performance review program is a management tool used by healthcare systems to aggregate and quantify the various aspects of hospital care to enable comparisons of performance. These programs may include a variety of domains, such as external review (e.g., JCAHO survey results), patient safety, liability/risk management, satisfaction (customer, patient, employee, provider), financial performance, efficiency, and personnel development. As noted in the last report, executing an agreement with HCA has proved elusive, and so we are proceeding with the project with the funding being provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The workshop will be held on May 15, 2006, in conjunction with the Spring Membership Meeting in Miami.
National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care
The Commission continues to work on its report and will meet in Executive Session on March 20, 2006, in Washington, DC. The primary contract for the Commission is transitioning from NQF to the Co-Chair’s (former Senator Bob Kerrey) institution, the New School; NQF will continue to be work collaboratively on the project through a subcontract with the New School.
Nursing Sensitive Measures Tracking
Work has commenced on an RWJF-funded project to track users of the nursing sensitive measures and their experiences, including barriers and opportunities encountered. Insights gained will be provided to RWJF, nursing sensitive measures developers and users of the measures to help accelerate the uptake and implementation of the nursing sensitive measures.
Nurses Educational Preparation and Patient Outcomes in Acute Care: A Case for Quality
As a follow up to nursing-sensitive consensus standards work done in 2003, NQF staff have developed a position paper that summarizes the research in the area of nursing education preparation and its relationship to patient care outcomes. The paper also creates a context for NQF’s associated research and data system recommendations, and articulates the significant effects of nursing education on outcomes of patient safety. The paper was fowarded to NQF Members for review, with comments due by February 7, 2006. NQF staff are currently compiling and analyzing the comments.
National Voluntary Consensus Standards for the Reporting of Healthcare-associated Infection Data
As noted earlier, NQF has finalized the contract with the primary funder of this project, which seeks to endorse voluntary consensus standards for the public reporting of healthcare-associated infections data. Areas to be considered for consensus under this project may be relevant to the adult and/or pediatric population, may apply across the continuum of healthcare settings, and may be related to the following areas: intravascular catheters and bloodstream infections; surgically implanted devices; indwelling catheters and urinary tract infections; respiratory infections, including those associated with ventilators; gastrointestinal infections; and surgical site infections. The Steering Committee and Technical Advisory Panels have been appointed, a TAP has been appointed for each area, and a specific TAP for pediatrics also has been constituted. Additionally, an Implementation/Public Reporting TAP is being finalized. A Call for Measures was issued, with a due date of March 17, 2006.
An active outreach effort continues.
The penultimate draft of a compendium of NQF-endorsed consensus standards and other work was provided to the Board at the meeting on December 8, 2005. The document will be published and available in March 2006 in both electronic and printed forms.
The Ad hoc Advisory Committee on Evidence Grading met at an in-person meeting on January 12, 2006. The Committee further revised the grading schema, which will be piloted internally by NQF staff working, as recommended by the Committee. Once the pilot is complete, the document will be revised and/or forwarded to members for comment.
The report of the Ad hoc Advisory Committee on Performance Measure Criteria is being finalized, and a draft will be circulated for Member comment in March 2006 (a delay due to personnel shifts).
A call for nominations for the 2006 Eisenberg awards was issued in February 2006. The awards will be presented in conjunction with the NQF Annual Meeting, October 12 and 13 in Washington, DC. The submission deadline for the 2006 nomination form is May 1, 2006.
NQF has issued a request for proposal to develop a database to improve internal efficiency of projects, organize project-associated resources, and track implementation of NQF-endorsed consensus standards.