March 11, 2005
NCQA to Support CMS Program to Improve Chronic Care
Nearly 36 million Medicare beneficiaries have some form of chronic illness; Regular measurement, feedback expected to help doctors improve care
WASHINGTON— NCQA announced today that it will provide support for a five year effort to help improve care for Medicare beneficiaries through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Chronic Care Improvement Program (CCIP). NCQA will support the effort of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., in developing performance measures, auditing data and designing reports for providers and administrators. Nearly 36 million Medicare beneficiaries have some form of chronic illness such as diabetes, heart disease or asthma .
“Living with many chronic illnesses is as much a management challenge as it is a medical challenge – maybe more so,” said NCQA Vice President for Performance Measurement, Joachim Roski, Ph.D. “The difference between high expense and low quality of life as opposed to lower expense and a high quality of life comes down to following clinical guidelines and keeping patients involved in their own care. By providing feedback on performance, the CCIP can help make sure Medicare beneficiaries get the best possible care.”
The Chronic Care Improvement Program (CCIP), was developed to help ensure that chronically ill individuals get comprehensive, coordinated care. The CCIP program will also emphasize helping chronically ill beneficiaries to self manage their conditions, adhere to their physicians’ plan of care, and ensure they seek care needed to reduce health risks.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas 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.
Mathematica, a nonpartisan firm, conducts policy research and surveys for federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector clients. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C., and Cambridge, Mass., has conducted some of the most important studies of early childhood policies, health care, welfare, education, employment, and nutrition programs in the U.S. Mathematica strives to improve public well-being by bringing the highest standards of quality, objectivity, and excellence to bear on the provision of information collection and analysis to its clients.