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NCQA Releases HEDIS(r) 2005 Draft for Public Comment; Proposed Measures Focus on Back Pain, Glaucoma, Arthritis, Other Issues; Comments Accepted through March 19

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has released for public comment a draft of HEDIS 2005, the tool used by the nation's health care organizations to measure their performance.

The latest version of the Health Plan Employer Data and Information set (HEDIS) proposes the addition of five new measures that will assess the quality of care and physician advice related to common health issues that are relevant to tens of millions of Americans. Among the issues targeted for monitoring and improvement are back pain, physical activity in older adults, and long term treatment of heart attack victims. Interested parties are encouraged to comment on the draft through March 19.

Specifically the new measures proposed for 2005 are:

-- Persistence of Beta Blocker Treatment After A Heart Attack

-- Disease Modifying Antirheumatic Drug (DMARD) Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis

-- Use of Imaging Studies in Low Back Pain

-- Glaucoma Screening in Older Adults

-- Physical Activity in Older Adults

With the release of the '05 draft, NCQA is also soliciting comments on its proposal to retire a number of utilization measures. The measures proposed for retirement are: Discharges and Average Length of Stay (Maternity Care); Cesarean Section Rate; Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Section Rate; Births and Average Length of Stay (Newborns). NCQA also proposes retiring the Management of Menopause Survey. For many of these measures, no useful definition of "good" performance exists making the effort of gathering related data of questionable value.

Relevant sections of the HEDIS 2005 draft can be downloaded from NCQA's Web site at http://www.ncqa.org/Programs/HEDIS/HEDIS2004PubComment.htm.

Comments should be submitted online to hediscomment@ncqa.org.

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas and manages the evolution of HEDIS(tm), the tool the nation's health plans use to measure and report on their performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.


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