NQF Updates Viral Disease Care Measures

In a statement, Helen Burstin, MD, NQF's senior vice president for performance measures, said the measures are "essential in helping providers evaluate patients, manage appropriate treatments and ultimately improve patient care."

According to the statement, Steven J. Brotman, MD, JD, senior vice president for payment and healthcare delivery policy at The Advanced Medical Technology (AdvaMed) and co-chair of the Infectious Disease Endorsement Steering Committee, "These measures—thoroughly evaluated by a diverse group of infectious disease experts—focus on helping individuals stay healthy and treating disease earlier and more effectively, which will be instrumental to reducing unnecessary healthcare costs."

The remaining 10 measures have been endorsed for at least three years, but have been re-endorsed and in some cases updated.

They are:

• The percentage of adults 18–64 years of age with a diagnosis of acute bronchitis (usually a viral illness) who were not dispensed an antibiotic prescription.
• The percentage of children 3 months to 18 years of age with a diagnosis of URI who were not dispensed an antibiotic medication.
• The percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C who are receiving antiviral treatment for whom quantitative HCV RNA testing was performed within 6 months prior to initiation of antiviral treatment.
• The percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C who are receiving antiviral treatment for whom HCV genotype testing was performed prior to initiation of antiviral treatment.