May 25, 2001

Quality Forum's Hospital Measures Steering Committee Discusses Measures and Framework

The Hospital Quality Measures Steering Committee of the National Forum for Health Care Quality Measurement and Reporting met on May 22 to discuss the Forum's two-part hospital quality measures project. The project stems from the Quality Interagency Task Force's (QuIC) February 2000 report to the President on patient safety initiatives in the federal government and is jointly sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA).

The first part will consist of a review of current measures used by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO), peer review organizations and others. The steering committee will use the review of measures to develop an initial set of quality performance measures for the nation's acute care hospitals. The Forum hopes to complete this aspect of the project by December 2001. The second part of the project involves developing a framework to review new measures and update the initial set. The Forum's goal is to complete this work by October 2002.

After reviewing the work of the Forum's Strategic Framework Board [See Washington Highlights, May 11] the steering committee discussed several issues on structuring a framework for reviewing hospital measures. They agreed that the purpose of the framework should be consistent with the conceptual framework being developed by the Strategic Framework Board. They agreed to divide into three workgroups in order to further discuss and develop components of the framework. Committee members also agreed to adopt the Strategic Framework Board's criteria for evaluating measures.

Forum staff presented a list of candidate measures, which they recommended for further review. They described the methodology and criteria used in developing the list. Steering committee members agreed that measures for some areas such as acute myocardial infarction, and others warranted further review. They also discussed ways to incorporate measures in underrepresented areas such behavioral health. Steering committee members raised several issues including the purpose and audience for the measures and the role of condition specific measures versus general measures. The steering committee has scheduled its next meeting for Oct. 24 in Dearborn, Michigan.

Information: Jeff Patyk, AAMC Division of Health Care Affairs, 202-828-0498.