This NQF project seeks to identify and endorse clinician level measures for public accountability and quality improvement related to infectious disease.
Performance measures around infectious disease prevention, treatment, and management is a large gap within the current landscape of quality measures, specifically in the areas of Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. The need for consensus standards is urgent. In the United States, it is estimated that 4-5 million individuals have been infected with Hepatitis C (HVC), which is a major cause of chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. HCV-associated chronic liver disease is the most frequent indication for liver transplantation among adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that at the end of 2003, an estimated 1,039,000 to 1,185,000 persons in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS, with 24-27% undiagnosed and unaware of their HIV infection1. Additionally, the cumulative estimated number of diagnoses of AIDS through 2005 in the United States and dependent areas was 984,1552.
Despite the urgent need, there are very few NQF-endorsed™ performance measures on infectious disease. Additionally, caring for patient with Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS is complex and often involves a great deal of care coordination and management of co-morbid conditions. This project will help to eliminate some of the gaps in performance measurement around this topic.In order to fill the gap for measures in the area of infectious disease, CMS has limited the scope of this project to identify measures for infectious disease prevention, treatment, and management, in the areas of Hepatitis A, B, C and HIV/AIDS.
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.
The project was initiated in late September 2007. The Steering Committee will convene via conference call on December 18, 2007 and February 11, 2008. The committee will meet for a 2-day meeting in Washington, DC on January 16-17, 2008. Registration information about the meeting is available on the NQF web site. This project is expected to call of public and member comments in late March 2008 and go out for member vote in early May 2008.
Funding for this project has been provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
For more information, contact Fatema Salam at 202.783.1300 or fsalam@qualityforum.org.
1Glynn M, Rhodes P. Estimated HIV prevalence in the United States at the end of 2003. National HIV Prevention Conference; June 2005; Atlanta. Abstract 595.
2Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of HIV infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2005. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, Volume 17, Revised Edition, June 2007.