May 16, 2005

NCQA Lauds National Quality Forum Endorsement of Ambulatory Measures

WASHINGTON— The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) President Margaret E. O’Kane today hailed the announcement that the National Quality Forum (NQF) had endorsed a series of ambulatory care measures for use in measuring physician performance. The endorsement of the measures paves the way for their use in a wide range of quality improvement and pay-for-performance projects in both the public and private sectors.

“We’re delighted that there is such a close alignment between NCQA’s measures and the goals of NQF,” said O’Kane. “Introducing these measures in the field will mean that more doctors get actionable information that they can use to fine tune their practices and deliver the best possible care.”

The measures, all of which relate to diabetes care, were submitted through the Diabetes Quality Improvement Alliance, a group promoting evidence-based diabetes care. Measures receiving NQF endorsement include:

• A1c Management (2 measures)
• Lipid Management (3 measures)
• Urine Protein Screening
• Eye Examination
• Blood Pressure Management
• Percentage of patients with most recent blood pressure <140/80 mm Hg

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the tool the nation’s health plans use to measure and report on their performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.