Collecting and reporting meaningful healthcare performance data has been a largely manual process, which can be inefficient and lead to inconsistent results, according to the release. The QDS acts as a dictionary for quality measurement, providing a standardized core set of data. NQF soon will begin requiring measures submitted for endorsement to include e-specifications that align with the QDS framework.
“We are so pleased that we now have this fundamental building block for quality measurement and improvement,” Janet Corrigan, NQF president and CEO, said in the release. “The Quality Data Set will help ensure that measure developers use common data definitions and conventions when specifying measures for use with electronic health records.”
The QDS framework ensures the latest health information technology requirements are seamlessly woven into quality measures by providing a common language to describe the information within quality measures. It also enables quality measurement from a variety of electronic sources, including electronic health records, personal health records, registries and health information exchanges, according to the release.
The QDS framework consists of standard elements (a code list for a specific condition such as diabetes, or a medication such as aspirin); quality data elements (information describing the context of use in the clinical care process such as a past history of diabetes or the administration of aspirin); and data flow attributes (the sources of the information), according to the release.
Read the release about the NQF’s Quality Data Set for electronic health records.
