Quality Measures

Quality health care is a high priority for the President, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS implements quality initiatives to assure quality health care for Medicare Beneficiaries through accountability and public disclosure. CMS uses quality measures in its various quality initiatives that include quality improvement, pay for reporting, and public reporting.

What are Quality Measures?
Quality measures are tools that help us measure or quantify healthcare processes, outcomes, patient perceptions, and organizational structure and/or systems that are associated with the ability to provide high-quality health care and/or that relate to one or more quality goals for health care. These goals include: effective, safe, efficient, patient-centered, equitable, and timely care.

How are they developed?
For information on how CMS develops quality measures, please click on the "Measure Management System" link below for more information.

How are they used?
CMS uses quality measures in its quality improvement, public reporting, and pay-for-reporting programs for specific healthcare providers. Click on Related Links Inside CMS below for more information.

How are they collected or reported?
Data on quality measures are collected or reported in a variety of ways, such as claims, assessment instruments, chart abstraction, registries. Click on Related Links Inside CMS below for more information.

CMS is currently testing the submission of quality measures data from Electronic Health Records for physicians and other health care professionals and will soon be testing with hospitals. Click on the "Electronic Specification" link to the left for more information.

Where can I found out more about the measure specifications?
Measure specifications are available by clicking on Downloads or Related Links Inside CMS below.