This report presents the results of an evaluation of health care performance measures, describes how performance measures are being used by a wide array of organizations and the types of measures being used for different purposes, summarizes key barriers and facilitators to the use of measures, and identifies opportunities for easing the use of performance measures moving forward.

An Evaluation of the Use of Performance Measures in Health Care

Cheryl L. Damberg, Melony E. Sorbero, Susan L. Lovejoy, Katharine Lauderdale, Samuel Wertheimer, Amber Smith, Daniel A. Waxman, Christopher Schnyer

ResearchPublished Dec 9, 2011

The National Quality Forum (NQF), a private, nonprofit membership organization committed to improving health care quality performance measurement and reporting, was awarded a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a portfolio of quality and efficiency measures. The portfolio of measures would allow the federal government to examine how and whether health care spending is achieving the best results for patients and taxpayers. As part of the scope of work under the HHS contract, NQF was required to conduct an independent evaluation of the uses of NQF-endorsed measures for the purposes of accountability (e.g., public reporting, payment, accreditation, certification) and quality improvement. In September 2010, NQF entered into a contract with the RAND Corporation for RAND to serve as the independent evaluator. This report presents the results of the evaluation study. It describes how performance measures are being used by a wide array of organizations and the types of measures being used for different purposes, summarizes key barriers and facilitators to the use of measures, and identifies opportunities for easing the use of performance measures moving forward.

Key Takeaways

Measures Serve Internal, Public Needs

  • Public reporting (releasing information about quality of care) and quality improvement were the most commonly reported uses of performance measures.
  • Users reported using measures drawn from seven performance domains: structure of care, process of care, outcome, access, safety, costs, and patient experience, with process measures being the most widely used.
  • A combination of factors is driving use of performance measures, including requirements related to payments based on meeting quality standards and public reporting in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the need to respond to local health issues.

After Release, Minimal Interest in Measures

  • Few organizations had studied the results from measuring performance, particularly regarding the return on investment.

New Measures Could Improve Measurement of Care

  • Access measures, among others, are lacking - leading to incomplete information about the care provided
  • Several areas for developing new measures were identified, including coordination of care, outcomes, patient safety, cost and resource use, access and affordability, and measures that address specific conditions, settings, and populations.

Recommendations

  • Establish priorities for where end users should focus their attention and resources.
  • Align measures among the various parties that impose reporting requirements.
  • Develop new measures for emerging applications, such as those in the context of episode-based payments, accountable care organizations, and value-based purchasing.
  • Engage in front-end planning to influence the data architecture of EHRs and other health IT to support the construction of measures
  • Conduct a systematic review of the literature to fully catalog measure use and formally assess the system-change results from the use of measures.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2011
  • Pages: 68
  • Document Number: TR-1148-NQF

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Damberg, Cheryl L., Melony E. Sorbero, Susan L. Lovejoy, Katharine Lauderdale, Samuel Wertheimer, Amber Smith, Daniel A. Waxman, and Christopher Schnyer, An Evaluation of the Use of Performance Measures in Health Care. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2011. https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR1148.html.
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This work was sponsored by the National Quality Forum under U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The research was conducted in RAND Health, a unit of the RAND Corporation.

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