HHS Press Release Date: November 13, 2008
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today released the first-ever
inventory of quality measures that are used for reporting, payment, or quality
improvement by its agencies and operating divisions.
The HHS measure inventory, which is available on the National Quality Measures
Clearinghouse™, a Web site of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ), is designed to advance collaboration within the quality measurement
community and to synchronize measurement. The inventory is available
on the clearinghouse Web site at
http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov.
"I am extremely pleased to be unveiling this critically important inventory
of quality measures used by HHS agencies," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "This
effort is pivotal to achieving the goal of transparency in quality measurement
as a cornerstone of value-driven health care."
Secretary Leavitt added that he called on national, regional, state, and
local policymakers, health care executives and clinicians to take advantage
of tools the inventory provides; work toward a uniform set of measurements
for assessment; and provide clear reports about the quality and value of health
care to stakeholders.
Measures for this inventory were contributed by: Administration on Aging,
AHRQ, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Indian Health Service,
Office of Public Health and Science, National Institutes of Health, Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Office of the National
Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
"The release of this inventory is an important step in providing health
care providers, clinicians, patients, policymakers and others with reliable,
comprehensive information on the department's efforts to measure and
improve health care quality," said AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy, M.D. "I
hope this is the start of a longer term effort for the department to develop
further an overarching strategy that can be aligned with public and private
efforts to accelerate improvements in quality and value for all Americans."
The measures currently can be sorted by agency or operating division and can be
downloaded in their entirety. In the next several months, the inventory will be enhanced
so the measure can be sorted by condition, setting, or measure domain. Inquiries
regarding measure specifications, updates, or others issues should be directed
to info@qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov.
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
For more information, please contact AHRQ Press Office: (301)
427-1855.
Internet Citation:
New Inventory of HHS Quality Measures Released to Improve
Public- and Private-Sector Performance Measurement Efforts.
Press Release, November 13, 2008. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2008/qualmeaspr.htm