Collaborative announces consensus on core measure sets for certain clinicians

The Core Quality Measures Collaborative, a public-private effort to align and simplify quality measures for physicians and other clinicians, has reached consensus on core quality measures for certain primary and specialty care providers, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and America’s Health Insurance Plans announced today. The seven measure sets apply to: accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes and primary care; cardiology; gastroenterology; HIV and Hepatitis C; medical oncology; obstetrics and gynecology; and orthopedics. CMS plans to use the notice and comment rulemaking process to implement the measures in public programs where appropriate and to eliminate redundant measures that are not part of the core measure set. CMS’s draft plan for developing quality measures for the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System and alternative physician payment models also was informed by the core measure sets. Commercial health plans intend to implement the measures when contracts are renewed or allow changes to performance measures. The collaborative plans to add additional measures and measure sets in the future.