CMS launches tool to provide visibility into measures portfolio

Interactive web-based app will serve as resource for payers, clinicians, patients and developers.


The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has launched a new tool to provide a comprehensive list of the agency’s measures that are currently under development, implemented for use and have been removed from a quality program or initiative.

The CMS Measures Inventory Tool (CMIT), an interactive web-based application, is designed to serve as a resource for payers, clinicians, patients and developers ensuring improved visibility into its portfolio of measures.

Kate Goodrich, MD, chief medical officer and director of the CMS Center for Clinical Standards and Quality announced the availability of the new tool on Monday in a blog posting.

“The intuitive and user-friendly functions allow you to find measures quickly and to compile and refine sets of related measures,” wrote Goodrich. “The tool increases transparency and can be used to identify measures across the continuum of care and will help coordinate measurement efforts across all conditions, settings and populations.”

According to Goodrich, the tool contains the same information that is currently available in an Excel spreadsheet. However, she said CMS has expanded the information contained in its inventory to “better answer questions we have heard from the public; the CMIT lists each measure by program, dates of measure consideration and implementation, and measure specifications including, but not limited to, numerator, denominator, exclusion criteria, measure type, and National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsement status.”

Late last month, CMS announced the “Meaningful Measures” Initiative intended to be a new approach to quality measurement and to streamline current measure sets, moving from process measures to a focus on outcome-based measures going forward.

Also See: CMS announces new ‘Meaningful Measures’ initiative

“CMS is actively working to move the needle on improving quality in healthcare without additional burden to those providers on the frontlines,” added Goodrich. “A great deal of attention has also been focused on alignment of quality measures within CMS and with commercial payers, and we are committed to working towards alignment of these measures to ensure delivery of high quality care to all Americans while minimizing burden on providers.”

She concluded that CMIT is “an innovative approach that will help to promote the goal of increased alignment across programs and with other payers.”

Additional information about the tool can be found here.

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