This NQF project seeks to identify and endorse measures for public accountability and quality improvement related to cancer care at the individual clinician level.
In 2006, nearly 1.41 million men and women in the United States will develop cancer. While there have been great strides in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, there are still variations in medical practice that lead to sub-optimal care.
To date, the NQF has endorsed performance measures for cancer care at the institutional level (e.g., hospitals, health plans) but not at the individual clinician level. To meet CMS’s need for additional quality measures for use in the CMS Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), cancer care is now being included in this effort to promote accountability, quality improvement and to enable consumers to make informed decisions about where to seek care.
The clinician level cancer care project will include a call for measures related to the following topic areas for the individual clinician:
The NQF proposes to work with the full range of stakeholders to identify performance measures that could be used at the individual clinician level to provide meaningful information to consumers, purchasers, providers, healthcare professionals, quality improvement organizations, and researchers about cancer care.
This project, like all NQF activities, involves the active participation of representatives from across the spectrum of healthcare stakeholders. The project is guided by a Steering Committee. Agreement around the recommendations will be developed through NQF’s formal Consensus Development Process.
Funding for this project has been provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
For more information, contact Kristyne McGuinn, at 202.783.1300 or via email, kmcguinn@qualityforum.org.
1American Cancer Society. Cancer Statistics-2006. Presentation can be accessed at: http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/Cancer_Statistics_2006_Presentation.ppt#282,13,2006 Estimated US Cancer Cases* Last accessed on October 2, 20007.