AHA, others ask NQF to extend, refine trial of sociodemographic risk adjustment

The AHA, America’s Essential Hospitals, Federation of American Hospitals, and Association of American Medical Colleges today urged the National Quality Forum to extend the trial period for its policy allowing the performance measures it evaluates to be risk adjusted for sociodemographic status, and to refine how the policy change is evaluated. In a letter to the NQF Board of Directors, the organizations cite several concerns with how the trial period, established in April 2015 and set to end this spring, has been implemented. “Collectively, we support an extension of the trial period to ensure that the outcomes are responsive to the Board’s charge and that the measures receiving endorsement are reliable and valid with minimal unintended consequences to patients and providers,” the organizations said. “…We also strongly believe that the findings of recent reports on SDS should be used to inform and shape a robust set of criteria by which NQF Standing Committees can evaluate measures for appropriate SDS risk adjustment.”