The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has launched its inaugural Digital Quality Solutions pilot, a software product development project that features expanded, executable clinical quality measures and measure-processing software.
As part of the 6-month pilot program, six organizations will assess the software’s usability; test product features; and provide feedback on implications to Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measure reporting and value-add to quality improvement and care management efforts.
The pilot program participants, called digital quality trailblazers, will analyze, inform, and provide feedback on NCQA’s initial product offering. They will share information about current NCQA Measure Certification or their experience adopting HEDIS measures for use in data and performance management operations and/or quality improvement solutions. NCQA will use this information to improve digital quality measurement solutions.
Participating pilot organizations include: 1UpHealth, Aetna a CVS Health Company, ApolloMed, Change Healthcare, Centauri Health Solutions, and Health Care Service Corp.
“The healthcare industry needs to accelerate the move to digital equality, and there’s a tremendous opportunity for digital measurement solutions that are more powerful, configurable and dynamic than anything available now,” said NCQA Chief Product Officer Brad Ryan, M.D., in a statement. “We are excited about this pilot as a meaningful step toward improving healthcare in real time. This is an opportunity to build on HEDIS by moving to a more connected, consistent framework for the digital quality measurement that underlies value-based contracting.”
NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane, added, “By working with digital quality trailblazers, we will evolve measures from paper-based to fully executable, improve configurability to support various use cases and give measures the flexibility to add value and insight at different levels of the healthcare system.”
1upHealth Chief Strategy Officer and former National Coordinator for Health IT Don Rucker, M.D., MBA, M.S., will act as the executive sponsor to lead the company's efforts with NCQA. "We are honored to be selected as a pilot partner to advance healthcare's move towards digital quality measures that can improve outcomes in real time," said Rucker, in a statement. "It starts with a modern, scalable cloud environment that can handle vast amounts of disparate data, clean it up, and make it usable."
“Centauri is proud to be among the select organizations chosen by NCQA to be a Digital Quality Trailblazer and help shape the future of digital quality measurement,” says Adam Miller, CEO of Centauri, in a statement. “As one of the few U.S. companies continuously certified by NCQA since 2006 and through our partnership with them as a beta testing site, I am confident Centauri’s experienced teams will play a key role in this program to drive improvements in high-quality, equitable care, while reducing inefficiencies and healthcare costs.”
