AQA Third Invitational Meeting

Summary

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To identify critical opportunities in ambulatory care performance measurement, the third in a series of meetings was held April 27-28, 2005. The third meeting of the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance (AQA) was convened to review the activities of its three workgroups (on performance measurement, data sharing and aggregation, and reporting).

Select to access the first and second meetings.

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Introduction

The third meeting on performance measurement, data aggregation, and reporting was convened by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), America's Health Insurance Plans, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American College of Physicians (ACP). The four groups joined in September 2004 to lead a collaborative effort for determining how to best improve performance measurement, data aggregation, and reporting in the ambulatory care setting effectively and efficiently.

The effort, termed the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance (AQA), has as its aim to:

• Improve health care quality and patient safety through a collaborative process in which key stakeholders agree on a strategy for measuring performance at the physician level.
• Collect and aggregate data in the least burdensome way.
• Report meaningful information to consumers, physicians, and other stakeholders to inform choices and improve outcomes.

AQA's mission and goals focus on key areas that can help identify quality gaps, control skyrocketing costs, reduce confusion and burdens in the marketplace, and otherwise address the challenges of the current health care system.

The third meeting of the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance was convened to review the activities of its three workgroups (on performance measurement, data sharing and aggregation, and reporting). Participants reviewed a starter set of performance measures, a proposed data aggregation model, and principles for health care reporting to consumers, purchasers, providers, and hospitals. They also discussed next steps.

The timing of this stakeholder process coincides with a growing interest in rewarding high-quality providers (through pay for performance, or "p4p") and clinicians' burgeoning interest in adopting health information technology to enhance the quality, safety, and efficiency of care delivery. AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy chaired the meeting, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mark McClellan delivered the opening speech.

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