Tutorials on Quality Measures
NQMC relies on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) definition of quality of care as
"the degree to which health care services for individuals and populations increase
the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional
knowledge."1 Quality measures, then, are mechanisms that enable the user
to quantify the quality of a selected aspect of care by comparing it to an evidence-based
criterion that specifies what is better quality. The educational resources below
will provide an introduction to the field of quality measurement and inform users
how to best use NQMC.
Varieties of Measures in NQMC
Explore the wide variety of measures in NQMC, grouped into two main categories:
measures related to health care delivery and population health measures.
Desirable Attributes of a Quality Measure
Identify the desirable attributes of a quality measure, grouped according to three
broad conceptual areas within which narrower categories provide more detail: (1)
importance of a measure, (2) scientific soundness of a measure, and (3) feasibility
of a measure.
Uses of Quality Measures
Understand the three general purposes for which quality measures are used: Quality
Improvement, Accountability and Research.
Selecting Quality Measures
Learn how to select the appropriate measure for implementation, based on the user’s
desired purpose, and how to interpret measure results.
Validity of Clinical Quality Measures
Consider the six key questions that may help to determine a measure's validity as
a measure of quality. The NQMC measure summary includes specific fields that provide
an answer to each of these questions.
1Institute of Medicine. Lohr KN, editor(s). Medicare: a strategy for
quality assurance. Vol. 1. Washington (DC): National Academy Press; 1990 May. p.
21.