The National Quality Forum has converted 113 quality measures of health care performance from a paper-based format to an electronic format, Modern Healthcare reports.
HHS requested the conversion so that the measures would comply with requirements in the HITECH Act, which is part of the 2009 economic stimulus package (Barr, Modern Healthcare, 2/15).
NQF officials said the conversion to the so-called eMeasure format would support efforts to meet rules in the meaningful use program. Under the economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
NQF officials said there are numerous other benefits to the eMeasures, including:
- Greater consistency in developing measures and in assessing performance results;
- The ability to provide more exact requirements for where information should be collected;
- Greater standardization among all measures; and
- Stronger confidence in comparing outcomes and health care provider performance (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 2/15).
The eMeasures will be available for public and member comment through April 1 (Modern Healthcare, 2/15).