NQF Begins Annual Review of Performance Measures for Federal Programs 

Washington, DC —The National Quality Forum’s Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) has begun its annual review of standardized performance measures that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is considering for use in federal programs. The list of about 35 measures under consideration (PDF) is open for an initial public comment period through December 7, 2017, at 6:00 pm ET.

MAP brings together stakeholders from the private and public sectors to provide guidance to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the selection of performance measures for federal public reporting and payment programs, including the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) program legislated by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).

“Each year, MAP’s recommendations help ensure that the nation’s 55 million Medicare beneficiaries—and all Americans—get the high-value care they need and deserve,” said Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, NQF’s president and CEO. “NQF is committed to meaningful measures that focus on outcomes and aspects of care that are most important to patients, while also identifying leading measure gaps that must be addressed to achieve the nation’s healthcare priorities.”

NQF has convened MAP annually since 2010, bringing together more than 200 healthcare leaders and experts from over 110 private- and public-sector organizations to provide recommendations on the high-impact measures that will improve health and healthcare. MAP volunteers represent consumers, purchasers, employers, health plans, clinicians and providers, communities and states, suppliers, and federal agency liaisons. The MAP Coordinating Committee and its hospital, clinician, post-acute and long-term care workgroups, with input from its rural and Medicaid workgroups, identify measurement gaps across settings, prioritizes high-impact measures, and recommends alignment of measures across federal programs.

MAP will deliver its measure recommendations to HHS by February 1, 2018, and publish its reports in February and March 2018.

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The National Quality Forum leads national collaboration to improve health and healthcare quality through measurement. Learn more at www.qualityforum.org.