June 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 6
Diabetes care criteria
Groups release first uniform set of outcome measuresEvaluating care provided to adults with diabetes just got easier -- or, at least, more standardized. Last month, the AMA, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and National Committee for Quality Assurance released a set of performance measures to evaluate adult diabetes care across multiple clinical settings. It's the first time a uniform set of measurements on any clinical topic has been disseminated.
The document uses an evidence-based approach to coordinate outcome measurement sets used by physicians, hospitals and health plans. Meeting the performance measures would eliminate redundancy and help health professionals make the best use of existing resources. The diabetes measures are the first in a series the three health groups intend to release. Future documents will address cardiovascular disease care, neonatal care and pregnancy care.
AAFP involvement
AMA, JCAHO and NCQA in 1998 created the Performance Measurement Coordinating Council to identify standardized performance measures that would apply across the physician, health plan and provider organization levels of the U.S. health care delivery system. Former AAFP President Neil Brooks, M.D., of Vernon, Conn., represented the Academy on the PMCC.
The diabetes document was developed by an expert panel of physicians and others. Theodore Ganiats, M.D., of La Jolla, Calif., who chairs both the AAFP Commission on Clinical Policies and Research and the Task Force on Outcome Measures and Systems for Family Medicine and Primary Care, served on the expert panel.
Outpatient care elements
The measurement set includes these aspects of outpatient diabetes care: management of hemoglobin A1c levels, lipid management, urine protein testing, eye examination, foot examination, influenza vaccination, blood pressure management and office visit frequency.
You can view the diabetes document online by going to http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/3798.html and clicking on "Coordinated Performance Measurement for the Management of Adult Diabetes."
The diabetes care measures will now be tested in a demonstration project conducted by the Maine Medical Assessment Foundation, a not-for-profit health services research and quality improvement organization.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
FP Report | Headlines |AAFP Home | Search