The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) is endorsing 14 quality and value measures it says will “simplify the reporting process and limit the burden on providers and group practices.”

“[The] measures were selected to address the flaws with the current quality measurement and reporting system, which suffers from duplicative measures and a lack of data standardization,” the group said in a statement.

AMGA says that its members “report hundreds of different quality measures to various public and private payers, the vast majority of which are not useful in evaluating or improving the quality of care provided.”

AMGA notes that “U.S. physician practices across four common specialties annually spend more than $15.4 billion and 785 hours per physician to report quality measures.”

Using the 14 core measures, AMGA says, will “save providers’ time and reduce costs while improving care” and “reduce the variation in the measures that are reported.”

The following are the core measures listed by AMGA:

1. Emergency department use per 1,000;

2. SNF Admissions per 1,000;

3. 30-day all cause hospital readmissions;

4. Admissions for acute ambulatory sensitive conditions composite;

5. HbA1C poor control > 9%;

6. Depression screening;

7. Diabetes eye exam;

8. Hypertension/high blood pressure control;

9. CAHPS/health status/functional status;

10. Breast cancer screening;

11. Colorectal cancer screening;

12. Cervical cancer screening;

13. Pneumonia vaccination rate;

14. Pediatric well-child visits (0-15 months).

A task force of AMGA members developed the set of measures. The task force was chaired by Scott Hines, MD, chief quality officer with Crystal Run Healthcare in Middletown, NY.

“In addition to selecting clinically relevant measures, we chose measures that also have demonstrated results, account for patient experience, and have sufficient sample sizes to ensure statistical validity,” Hines said in the aforementioned statement.

“This set reflects the collective views of integrated systems and multispecialty medical groups that are leading the move to value-based care. It is not intended to replace all other measures, but instead serve as a standardized set for reporting purposes. Measures not included still have value when reported internally to drive quality improvement within healthcare provider organizations.”