MAP recently submitted its final recommendations to HHS for 131 performance measures under consideration for use in 16 federal healthcare programs. This is the fifth consecutive year that MAP has submitted guidance to HHS on standardized performance measures. Increasingly, MAP is asked to give initial input on a significant number of measures that are in the early stages of development.
“The role of MAP continues to grow and evolve in reflection of the changing nature of our nation’s healthcare system and the increasing focus on using measurement to assess value,” said Helen Burstin, MD, MPH, NQF chief scientific officer. “MAP is recognized for the diverse perspectives and expertise it brings to the table from both the public and private sectors to come to consensus on recommended performance measures to use in Medicare, Medicaid, and other public programs.”
MAP’s recommendations are the result of an intensive two-month process in which experts review measures under HHS consideration for use in clinician, hospital, and post-acute care/long-term care settings; assimilate public comments; and make recommendations about each measure. HHS then considers MAP recommendations in selecting measures for use in federal healthcare programs.
MAP’s annual review of measures under consideration this year surfaced several important themes, including:
- Identifying measurement gaps, or areas where more research and data are needed, particularly in areas such as mental/behavioral health, perinatal care, and pediatric health, among others;
- Increasing alignment around key quality issues across federal programs to eliminate duplicative measurement;
- Sharing information about measure use to identify trends in performance and ensure measures are working as intended;
- Continuously assessing areas in which care coordination among various providers can improve health and healthcare quality as well as the patient experience.
Approximately 60 of the measures are proposed for use in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) program focused on clinicians and legislated by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).
MAP works in a transparent manner with a carefully balanced composition of participants representing all areas of healthcare, including consumers, purchasers, health plans, clinicians and providers, suppliers, accreditation and certification entities, communities and states, and the federal government, as well as subject matter experts for areas such as health IT and healthcare disparities. In total, more than 150 experts from 90 organizations who regularly use measures and measurement information participated in MAP discussions. The final measure recommendation report is now available on the MAP web page.
MAP also has submitted additional guidance to HHS regarding the themes and measurement issues in the post-acute and long-term care (PAC/LTC) settings and hospital settings later, as well as reports on themes for clinician settings and cross-cutting issues.
Later this year, MAP will share guidance to HHS for improving care for the individuals on both Medicare and Medicaid. MAP also will share its latest recommendations to update both the Medicaid Adult and Child Core Sets to address high-priority areas.
For more information, contact measureapplications@qualityforum.org.
