Quality Forum's Cancer Care
Measures Steering Committee Begins Work
September 13, 2002-The Cancer Care Steering Committee
of the National Forum for Health Care Quality Measurement
and Reporting held its first meeting Sept. 4 and 5. The steering
committee will guide the Forum's Cancer Care Quality Measures
project and agree on a core set of quality measures for cancer
care and develop a framework for reporting and updating the
measure set. The co-chairs of the committee are Nancy-Ann
DeParle, Esq. and Roger Winn, M.D.
At this meeting, the steering committee's goal was to develop
a purpose statement for the measure set, agree on criteria
for choosing focus areas to study, and use the criteria to
select focus areas to study. The steering committee drafted
the following purpose statement: The purpose of the cancer
care quality measurement and reporting system is to inform
the public, payers, providers and researchers about the quality
of cancer prevention and treatment activities including the
patient experience across healthcare delivery systems, and
to identify opportunities to improve these activities in order
to reduce death, disability and suffering caused by cancer.
The steering committee agreed on the following criteria for
selecting focus areas to study:
- consistency with broad based national goals;
- burden of disease, including costs;
- representation of a dimension of patient centered care
experience:
- possibility of improvement (variability, malleability)
and;
- existence of disparities/serious quality problems.
The steering committee will focus on breast, colorectal,
and prostate cancers. In addition, they will examine cross-cutting
issues including end of life care, symptom management, communication,
coordination of care and cultural competence, access to care
and screening and prevention. The Forum will convene technical
advisory groups on each focus area. Their purpose will be
to review and recommend measures to the steering committee.
The steering committee will base the core measurement set
on the work of the technical advisory groups.
Information:
Jeff Patyk, Staff Specialist
AAMC Health Care Affairs
jpatyk@aamc.org
(202) 828-0498
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