CHILDREN’S HEALTH: Quality Assessment Effort Launched

The National Committee for Quality Assurance and the Foundation for Accountability are launching an initiative to identify a "master set" of quality measures for children's health care. The Children's Health Measurement Initiative is designed to enable families, purchasers of health care and health professionals to evaluate and improve the care delivered by physicians, children's hospitals and health plans. Over the next two years, the two organizations will work with consumer groups, children's health advocates, researchers, foundations and state and federal policymakers to identify a core set of quality measures. Three task forces coordinated by FACCT will identify measures in three areas:

The Basics/Staying Healthy Task Force: How well do providers/plans deliver the basics of good care-access, skill, communication, coordination of care and follow-up? How well do providers/plans help families and children anticipate and prevent health problems?
Getting Better Task Force: How well do providers/plans help children recover from acute problems, such as infections and injuries?
Living with Illness/Changing Needs Task Force: How well do providers/plans help families cope with chronic illnesses that affect children? How well do they help families cope with significant changes in health, such as disability or terminal illness?

A fourth group, the Health Plan Assessment Task Force, coordinated by NCQA, will review measures identified by the other groups and recommend them for inclusion in NCQA's Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set. In addition, the quality measurement and consumer information tools created through the initiative are expected to have immediate application for the federally funded Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid. For more information on the initiative, contact NCQA at (202) 955-5105 or FACCT at (503) 223-2228. This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.