CMS will provide up to $30 million of funding and technical assistance to clinicians, patients and other stakeholders to support the development of quality measures over three years, Kate Goodrich, MD, CMS' CMO and director of the agency's Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, wrote in a March 2 statement.
CMS aims to develop, improve, update and expand quality measures for use in the Quality Payment Program through the funding initiative.
CMS will partner with external entities, including clinical specialty societies, clinical professional organizations, patient advocacy organizations, educational institutions, independent research organizations and health systems to improve these measures.
The partnership aims to address issues in clinician engagement, provider burden, consumer-informed decisions, critical measure gaps, quality measure alignment and efficient data collection.
"By giving external entities needed resources to help guide their measure-development efforts though [sic] this funding opportunity, CMS can leverage the unique perspectives and expertise of these external entities, such as clinician and patient perspectives, to advance the Quality Payment Program measure portfolio," Dr. Goodrich wrote.