NQF is seeking nominations for members of a Steering Committee for a new project to identify and endorse ambulatory care measures suitable for both public accountability and quality improvement that can be derived primarily from clinically enriched administrative data.
BACKGROUND: In recent years, NQF has endorsed more than 150 ambulatory care measures which rely heavily on medical record reviews or physician-directed coding to assess performance. It is anticipated that performance measurement will ultimately rely on clinical data available in electronic health records, but it is unclear how long it will take for the quality enterprise to make the transition. In the interim, many measurement programs rely on electronic, administrative data. Performance measures that can be derived from ambulatory claims data alone are very limited, and concerns have been raised about the accuracy and reliability of these data and measures. Fortunately, progress has been made to improve these measures through the addition of laboratory and pharmacy data and other electronic clinical data, which when combined with claims data, provide a rich source of information for the assessment of some aspects of performance. A variety of stakeholders stress the urgent need for measures based on readily available and feasible data sources, such as electronic administrative data.
STEERING COMMITTEE: A Steering Committee will oversee the development of a draft consensus report, including recommendation of which measures should be endorsed as voluntary consensus standards. The Steering Committee, comprising approximately 20 individuals, will represent the range of stakeholder perspectives, including consumers, purchasers, insurers, quality improvement professionals, researchers, and healthcare system professionals possessing relevant knowledge and/or experience.
The Steering Committee shall have specific expertise, experience and/or familiarity with quality measurement using electronic, administrative data, as well as use of such data for public accountability and/or comparative purposes. It is also highly desirable that the Steering Committee have members with expertise in measurement methodology and experience with validation of administrative data. Given the importance of these measures for emerging community initiatives, individuals with experience in community/regional health information exchange would be valuable.
The Steering Committee shall also have the necessary clinical experience to examine the submitted candidate measure topic areas which are expected to include, but not limited to, cardiovascular care, diabetes, pulmonary conditions, prevention, and medication use for adults and children.
Steering Committee members should not have a vested interest in the candidate measures. This includes employees or contractors of measure owners/developers; members of workgroups that developed the measures; and members of committees that approve measures, or direct or set policy for measure development. Please see the NQF website for additional information about the conflict of interest policy. All potential Steering Committee members must disclose any current and past activities during the nomination process.
TIME COMMITMENT: Two 2-day in-person Steering Committee meetings will be held for this project. The Steering Committee will meet in person for a two-day meeting in Washington, DC on January 14-15, 2009 and April 21-22, 2009. Additionally, Steering Committee members will meet by conference call December 9, 2008 from 3-5pm ET. Follow-up e-mail communications or conference calls may be needed.
CONSIDERATION AND SUBSTITUTION: Priority will be given to nominations from NQF Members. Please note that nominations are to an individual, not an organization, so “substitutions” of other individuals from an organization at conference calls are not permitted.
MATERIAL TO SUBMIT: Self-nominations are welcome. Third-party nominations must indicate that the individual has been contacted and is willing to serve. To be considered for appointment to the Steering Committee, please send the following information:
All nomination materials should be submitted via email to RWinkler@qualityforum.org, Subject: “Nominations – Enriched Administrative Data”.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: All nominations MUST be submitted by 6:00 pm, ET on Friday, October 31.
QUESTIONS: If you have any questions, please contact Reva Winkler, MD, MPH at 202.783.1300 or RWinkler@qualityforum.org. Thank you for your interest in this project!