The National Quality Forum's Measure Applications Partnership has recommended the removal of 51 of the 240 quality measures used in seven federal programs.
MAP is a public-private partnership that provides guidance to HHS on quality and efficiency of measures used in federal performance-based payment programs. It released its new recommendations Thursday.
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The measures recommended for removal no longer drive improvement of care or do not meet the scientific criteria required for endorsement from NQF, according to Harold Pincus, MD, director of quality and outcomes research at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and co-chair of the MAP Coordinating Committee.
MAP recommends removing measures from the following programs:
- End Stage Renal Disease Quality Incentive Program: Remove four of the 18 current measures
- Prospective Payment System-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program: Remove four of the 17 current measures
- Ambulatory Surgery Center Quality Reporting Program: Remove two of the 15 current measures
- Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting Program: Remove seven of the 20 current measures
- Outpatient Quality Reporting Program: Remove 13 of the 29 current measures
- Inpatient Quality Reporting Program: Remove six of the 62 current measures
- Home Health Quality Reporting Program: Remove 15 of the 79 current measures
See the full list of 51 measures recommended for removal here.
Removing these measures would also reduce the reporting burden on physicians, hospitals and other providers, according to Dr. Pincus and Ronald Walters, MD, associate vice president of medical operations and informatics at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and co-chair of MAP Hospital Work Group.
"Wouldn't you rather have your doctor spend more time caring for you rather than on paperwork that doesn't help to improve your care?" Dr. Walters said during a press call Thursday.
See the full report, "Maximizing the Value of Measurement: MAP 2017 Guidance," here.
In addition to recommending measures for removal, MAP also evaluated measures under consideration for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System and the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
MAP noted the need for higher-value measures, including outcome measures, are needed in the MIPS and MSSP programs, but the group did not recommend any measures be removed from those programs.