Prevention and Population Health Final Report - Spring 2020 Cycle 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that six in ten United States (U.S.) adults have one chronic disease, four in ten adults have two or more, and that many leading causes of death may be prevented by decreasing negative lifestyle behaviors, such as tobacco use, unhealthy dietary choices, lack of physical activity, and excessive alcohol use. Increasing the use of preventive services is a key U.S. strategy to improving population health from often avoidable chronic conditions. Instead, nearly all the nation’s $3.8 trillion annual healthcare costs are used to fund medical services for existing illness and injury. A groundswell of evidence also reveals the significant influence that social determinants of health (SDOH) have on health outcomes and quality of life. SDOH are social, physical, and economic factors of individuals, families, and communities that affect health status, such as equitable access to quality healthcare, safe housing, poverty, food insecurity, education, employment, transportation, and culture. Improving the health of populations and addressing the SDOH warrants a multidisciplinary and multifactorial approach from medical, patient, community, and public health collaborators. Performance measures in NQF’s Prevention and Population Health portfolio assess the performance of stakeholder interventions to increase prevention services, decrease negative lifestyle choices, and improve population health status. The Consensus Standards Approval Committee (CSAC) voted unanimously to uphold the Standing Committee’s recommendation to support NQF #0032 Cervical Cancer Screening and endorsed the measure. The CSAC also voted unanimously to uphold the Standing Committee’s recommendation not to support NQF #0509 Diagnostic Imaging: Reminder System for Screening Mammograms and did not endorse the measure.