Guidance for Evaluating Usability and Use of Performance Measures 

In February 2012, the NQF Board of Directors approved changes to the organization’s Measure Evaluation criterion of Usability, in an effort to provide more guidance and support to Steering Committee members evaluating performance measures through Consensus Development Process projects. The criterion, now labeled Usability and Use, is defined as the extent to which potential audiences (e.g., consumers, purchasers, providers, policymakers) are using or could use performance results for both accountability and performance improvement to achieve the goal of high-quality, efficient healthcare for individuals or populations. NQF recognized that revising the Usability criterion was necessary, given the changing quality environment with the use of performance measures in other accountability applications besides public reporting, and to reflect the expectation that NQF-endorsed measures must be put into use to have an effect on quality.