April 14, 2014

Tutorials on Quality Measures

NQMC relies on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) definition of quality of care as "the degree to which health care services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge."¹ Quality measures, then, are mechanisms that enable the user to quantify the quality of a selected aspect of care by comparing it to an evidence-based criterion that specifies what is better quality. The educational resources below will provide an introduction to the field of quality measurement and inform users how to best use NQMC.

Varieties of Measures in NQMC
Explore the wide variety of measures in NQMC, grouped into two main categories: measures related to health care delivery and population health measures.

Desirable Attributes of a Quality Measure
Identify the desirable attributes of a quality measure, grouped according to three broad conceptual areas within which narrower categories provide more detail: (1) importance of a measure, (2) scientific soundness of a measure, and (3) feasibility of a measure.

Uses of Quality Measures
Understand the three general purposes for which quality measures are used: Quality Improvement, Accountability and Research.

Selecting Quality Measures
Learn how to select the appropriate measure for implementation, based on the user’s desired purpose, and how to interpret measure results.

- Selecting Structure Measures for Clinical Quality Measurement

Examine the various uses of a structure measure in assessing the organizational features of and resources available to health care organizations.

- Selecting Process Measures for Clinical Quality Measurement

Examine the advantages and challenges of assessing health care processes and understand the attributes of a process measure.

- Selecting Health Outcome Measures for Clinical Quality Measurement

Examine the factors that lead to health outcomes for patients and understand the key components for interpreting and implementing outcome measures.

Validity of Clinical Quality Measures
Consider the six key questions that may help to determine a measure's validity as a measure of quality. The NQMC measure summary includes specific fields that provide an answer to each of these questions.

Finding Care Coordination Measures
Understand how NQMC defines and classifies care coordination measures.