News: National Quality Forum suggests that federal agencies remove several performance measures
During its four-year existence, the National Quality Forum’s Measure Applications Partnership (NQFMAP) repeatedly suggested adding new measures or improvements to existing performance measures. This year, however, the NQF suggested removing 51 of the 240 measures across the seven federal payment programs.
The list of suggested cuts spans nearly every avenue of healthcare. The measures fall into the following categories:
- End-Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program: suggested removal of four out of 18 measures
- Prospective Payment System-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program: suggested removal of four out of 17 measures
- Ambulatory Surgery Center Quality Reporting Program: suggested removal of two out of 15 measures
- Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting Program: suggested removal of seven out of 20 measures
- Outpatient Quality Reporting Program: suggested removal of 13 out of 29 measures
- Inpatient Quality Reporting Program: suggested removal of six out of 62 measures
- Home Health Quality Reporting Program: suggested removal of 15 out of 79 measures
Additionally, the NQFMAP suggested modifying nine performance measures for improvement, Fierce Healthcare reported.
The reasoning behind the proposed cuts is that the performance measures aren’t providing information that leads to meaningful care improvements, said Ronald Walters, MD, co-chair of MAP’s Hospital Work Group and associate vice president of medical operations and informatics at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, at a press briefing.
The proposed cuts seek to reduce physician burnout and their mountains of paperwork, giving them more time to focus on patient care.
Editor’s note: To read the complete coverage from Fierce Healthcare, click here. To read the complete report from NQFMAP, click here. To read just the list of measures suggested for removal, click here.