The authors offer seven policy recommendations for reaching the full potential of performance measurement in healthcare:
1. Decisively move from measuring processes to outcomes.
2. Use quality measures strategically, adopting other quality improvement approaches where measures fall short.
3. Measure quality at the level of the organization, not the clinician.
4. Measure patient experience with care and patient-reported outcomes as ends in themselves.
5. Use measurement to promote the concept of the rapid-learning healthcare system.
6. Invest in the “basic science” of measurement development.
7. Task a single entity with defining standards for measuring and reporting quality and cost data, similar to the role the Securities and Exchange Commission serves for the reporting of corporate financial data, to improve the validity, comparability and transparency of publicly reported healthcare quality data.
More Articles on Quality Measures:
CMS: 8 Quality Measures Will Remain on Hospital Compare
CMS Creates Timeline for Quality Reporting Alignment
How Can Healthcare Organizations Measure “Soft” Aspects of Patient Safety?
