Washington, DC – The
National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed 18 new and existing measures of perinatal and reproductive health, including three new measures to assess the
quality of contraceptive care. The contraceptive measures are the first such
measures NQF has endorsed, adding to a portfolio of measures that helps ensure
that the 61 million women of reproductive age in the United States have access
to high-quality care that can reduce the risk of pregnancy-related
complications, including maternal and infant mortality.
“Access to the full range of contraceptive methods
and quality, patient-centered counseling is essential preventive healthcare
for women and vitally important to advancing economic security for women and
families,” said Carol Sakala, PhD, MSPH, director of Childbirth Connection
programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families, and co-chair of
NQF’s Perinatal and Reproductive Health Standing Committee. “We commend NQF for
addressing the gaps in quality measures for contraceptive access and counseling
and providing this much-needed guidance for improving postpartum care by
helping women plan and space healthy pregnancies.”
NQF’s first
endorsement of contraceptive measures (NQF #2903, 2904, and 2902) is intended to
help reduce unintended pregnancies by ensuring that women between the ages of
15 and 44 are provided with effective birth control, including access to
long-acting reversible contraception such as intrauterine devices. One of the measures assesses whether
clinicians provide contraception within 3 and 60 days of childbirth, reflecting
important recommendations to improve maternal health from the CDC and the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Many of the
measures in NQF’s perinatal and reproductive health portfolio are in use in at
least one federal program. Additionally, NQF’s Measure
Applications Partnership
(MAP) has included several of the reproductive health, pregnancy, labor and
delivery, and premature and low birthweight measures in the Medicaid Adult and
Child Core Sets.
Funded by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, the NQF Perinatal and Reproductive
Health Standing Committee—comprised of clinicians and other experts from across
the healthcare spectrum, including patients and community coalitions, public
agencies, and health plans—reviewed a total of 24 measures in its latest
project.
In its report, the Committee noted the need for perinatal measures, including
measures that track whether women are considering pregnancy, management of
gestational diabetes, and women’s perspectives of their prenatal care. The
Committee stressed the need for measures that assess care for women with
uncomplicated pregnancies.
“In perinatal and
reproductive care, we have too few measures to help drive critically needed
improvements in care,” said Kimberly Gregory, MD, MPH, vice chair of women’s
healthcare quality and performance improvement at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles
and co-chair of NQF’s Perinatal and Reproductive Health Standing Committee. “To
improve healthcare outcomes for this vital population, women and babies must have
access to the highest possible quality of care during pregnancy, labor and
delivery, and the post-partum period.”
###
The National Quality Forum leads national
collaboration to improve health and healthcare quality through measurement.
Learn more at www.qualityforum.org.
