CMS has issued a list of 32 measures it is considering for 2018 that could drive quality improvement in various healthcare settings.

CMS publishes an annual list of quality and cost measures it is considering for inclusion in Medicare quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs, working with the National Quality Forum (NQF) to obtain feedback. Kate Goodrich, MD, MHS, director of the Center for Clinical Standards & Quality and CMS Chief Medical Officer, released the Measures under Consideration (MUC) list for 2018.

“CMS is considering new measures to help quantify healthcare outcomes and track the effectiveness, safety, and patient-centeredness of the care provided. At the same time, CMS is taking a new approach to coordinated implementation of meaningful quality measures focused on the most critical, highly impactful areas for improvement while reducing the burden of quality reporting on all providers so they can spend more time with their patients,” Goodrich says. “In addition to other factors, CMS evaluated the measures on the MUC list to ensure that measures considered for adoption in a CMS program through rulemaking are necessary, focus on clearly defined, meaningful measure priority areas that safeguard public health, and improve patient outcomes.”

CMS considered 184 measures and narrowed the list to 32 measures focusing on CMS efforts that can help healthcare organizations achieve “high-quality healthcare and meaningful outcomes for patients, while minimizing burden,” Goodrich says. About 40% of the measures are outcomes measures, and there are eight episode-based cost measures.

These are a few of the measures:

• MUC17-139: Continuity of pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorder. Percentage of adults with pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorder who undergo at least 180 days of continuous treatment.
• MUC17-168: Average change in functional status following lumbar spine fusion surgery. For patients age 18 and older undergoing lumbar spine fusion surgery, the average change from preoperative functional status to one year (nine to 15 months) postoperative functional status using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI version 2.1a) patient-reported outcome tool.
• MUC17-169: Average change in functional status following total knee replacement surgery. For patients age 18 and older undergoing total knee replacement surgery, the average change from preoperative functional status to one year (nine to 15 months) postoperative functional status using the Oxford Knee Score (OKS) patient-reported outcome tool.

The full list of measures under consideration is available online at: http://bit.ly/2qgbnu5.