Cost and Efficiency Final Report - Spring 2021 Cycle 

Current levels of healthcare spending and growth in the United States have the potential to increase federal deficits and crowd out spending for other important national priorities. Economic realities like these require performance measures that can accurately capture spending, especially when spending arises from inefficient or poor‐quality care. Together, cost and quality measures can help to assess the efficiency and value of care delivered. During the spring 2021 measure evaluation cycle, the Cost and Efficiency Standing Committee evaluated five measures undergoing maintenance endorsement review against NQF’s standard evaluation criteria. The reviewed measures focused on Total Resource Use Population-Based Per Member Per Month (PMPM) Index, Total Cost of Care Population-Based PMPM Index, Risk-Standardized Payment Associated with 30-Day Episode-of-Care for Acute Myocardial Infarction, Risk-Standardized Payment Associated with 30-Day Episode-of-Care for Heart Failure, and Risk-Standardized Payment Associated with 30-Day Episode-of-Care for Pneumonia. The Standing Committee recommended all five measures for endorsement, and the Consensus Standards Approval Committee (CSAC) upheld the Standing Committee’s recommendation to endorse all five measures.