Health Affairs August 15, 2018
The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently highlighted value-based transformation as one of the department’s top four priorities, with an emphasis on “putting the consumer in charge, letting them determine value.” While definitions of value may vary based on beneficiary preferences, objective, reliable, and meaningful quality and cost measures are important components of individuals’ and health care providers’ assessment of value. However, obtaining such measures of value in practice has proven challenging. To address concerns with the usefulness of and burden of implementing the quality measures currently in use, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) launched its Meaningful Measures initiative. Its first task is to review the extent to which existing quality measures...