Debate heightens over measuring healthcare quality

The Obama administration's goal of tying more Medicare payments to the quality—not the quantity—of health care by 2018 has intensified the debate over how "quality" is defined and measured. Many doctors, hospitals, insurers and cost experts want to move away from the myriad quality metrics that largely measure process—from tracking the percentage of patients with chest pain who get an aspirin in the ER, to how hair is removed from ambulatory surgery patients—toward broader measures that assess patient outcomes. On Friday, the National Quality Forum, a nonprofit advisory group, submitted recommendations on 199 performance measures for Health and Human Services to consider in 20 federal programs. [Subscription Required]