Establishing Priorities, Goals and a Measurement Framework for Assessing Value Across Episodes of Care

Purpose

This project seeks to achieve consensus on a measurement framework for assessing “value” associated with the care of people over the course of a chronic episode of illness (e.g. 6-8 months). It will also establish a limited set of priorities and national performance goals, and set forth a vision and a research agenda to guide ongoing efforts.

Background

The absence of national priorities and goals, and a vision for how to move to a system with defined accountabilities impedes the efforts of those involved in all facets of performance measurement and reporting. The NQF has convened a Steering Committee whose primary charge is to establish national priorities and 3-5 year performance goals for two common chronic conditions, and to the extent possible, identify measures that can be used to assess progress in meeting each goal. The project will also develop a comprehensive measurement framework for chronic care episodes that will likely be applicable to many chronic conditions. The overall purpose is to move towards a better alignment of measurement development and reporting activities with national priorities and goals, to address critical gaps in the quality measurement agenda, and to begin defining comprehensive, longitudinal performance metrics—focusing on extended episodes of care that include quality and resource use, and are reflective of both care processes and patient outcomes.

Scope

Specifically for this project, the NQF will work with the full range of stakeholders to:

  • Develop a comprehensive measurement framework for chronic care episodes;
  • Identify a small subset of priority conditions to serve as a starting point for a national effort to measure, report, and improve the value of care across an episode of illness;
  • Assess the current state of efficiency in the selected priority conditions including availability of measures and data;
  • Establish national performance goals—measurable targets for the two priority conditions—over the next three to five years; and
  • Lay out a future vision and research agenda for an evolving measurement and monitoring system focused on achieving value across episodes of care.

The NQF Process

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.

Funding

Primary support for this project is provided by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
For more information, contact Karen Adams, Ph.D. at 202.783.1300 or e-mail info@qualityforum.org.