From NewsOK / by Paula Burkes
Published: February 18, 2016
Click to see full story – New health measures will require baseline screenings, more data

Q: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released core quality measures for physicians on Feb. 15. What does this mean for physicians and for patients?

A: Physicians currently are required to report multiple quality measures to a variety of entities, and this has been confusing for providers and difficult to report effectively. The quality measures, spearheaded for some time now by federal health care reimbursement programs and by commercial insurers, are being used to standardize care and to establish baseline performance for providers they reimburse for services provided to their beneficiaries. These measures are seen as a cost containment initiative and a way to facilitate provision of baseline quality services. It’s also envisioned as an opportunity to empower consumers to become informed decision-makers.

Q: How were these quality measures established?

A: CMS and America’s Health Insurance Plans came together, along with consumer groups, national physician organizations and employers, to form the Core Quality Measure Collaborative. The seven sets of core measures include: accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes and primary care; cardiology; gastroenterology; HIV and hepatitis C; medical oncology; obstetrics and gynecology; and orthopedics. CMS currently is using measures from each of these core sets. An example of a core measure for primary care (family practice) is control of high blood pressure by first obtaining a core set of data about the patient. Another primary care example for comprehensive diabetic care is performance of an eye exam.

Q: Does CMS intend to establish core measures for other medical practice “sets”?

A: The CMS news release of the Collaboration’s Core Quality Measures appears to be a single step in a process that will result in future proposed rules in additional clinical areas. Presumably CMS has stated that it will continue to engage in a multi-stakeholder collaboration including additional notice and public comment rulemaking. CMS isn’t newly committed to applying outcome metrics to payments for physicians and other providers. In fact, it’s not unusual for hospitals and other institutional providers to include baseline quality and performance metrics as a prerequisite to salary or bonus compensation in physician employment and other agreements.

Q: Are these additional regulations a win for Medicare, commercial insurers, physicians, patients?

A: The announcement of these regulations is thought to signal successful progress by Medicare and commercial insurers toward value-based purchasing. This is an effort to make the federal and private health care dollars go farther. Part of the federal health care agenda is based upon recouping financial savings by enabling a healthier population. For physicians, although this may initially seem like another layer of regulations tied to reimbursement, the standardized core measures are likely to simplify patient data the information that must be maintained and provided. For patients, although quality improvement is entirely positive, the logical extension of the efforts of the collaboration is to standardize care that will covered by these federal and commercial insurance programs. It’s possible that it will improve services provided to some patients while limiting that available to others.