The National Quality Forum has endorsed the use of 70 physician performance measures that combine data from a variety of electronic sources, such as administrative claims, pharmacy and laboratory systems and registries.
Fifteen of the most robust endorsed measures use clinical data elements from personal health records, electronic health records, or case management registries, according to an announcement Jan. 4 from the standards-setting body.
The National Quality Forum (NQF) aims to harmonize and streamline physician performance measures used by various health plans and to advance the use of electronic data systems to report and measure quality and performance.
A NQF committee reviewed over 200 measures, all of which are currently used by private health plans to assess physician performance. The 70 measures cover 16 conditions, including bone and joint conditions, cardiovascular disease, asthma and respiratory illness, and diabetes.
Of the 70 endorsed measures, 55 were measures that rely on merged data from multiple administrative sources, such as laboratory, pharmacy, imaging or other claims data.
Fifteen of the measures were constructed from common electronic administrative data sources enriched with clinical data, such as lab results. This measurement category will become more widespread as more physicians acquire electronic health records and participation in clinical registries increases, according to the NQF.
The measures provide a more complete picture of the care that physicians provide, said Dr. Michael O'Toole, co-chairman of NQF's steering committee on clinically enriched data sources. He is also a cardiologist and chief information officer at Midwest Heart Specialists.
"Clinically enhanced physician measures are a representation of quality. The more we can promote the use of electronic data, the more quality becomes part of routine clinical care, rather than a by-product or another form that needs to be filled out," he said.
NQF has yet to endorse a measure based on data collected from a single, electronic source, such as a pharmacy or office visit claim, because they don't provide enough details or used slightly different measure specifications, he said.
