Health care quality and its affordability have become very pressing issues in the United States. All sectors of the country are attempting to push forward initiatives that will improve the health care system as well as the health of the American population in general. Despite the economical dedication to health care, about 1/5, the system remains uneven and fragmented, patient harm is quite common, care is often uncoordinated, and many more mishaps occur. There exists many obstacles to improve the nation's health care system; these include the capacity to reliably and consistently measure progress. In 2006 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) established the Roundtable on Value & Science-Driven Health Care which has since accelerated the development of a learning health system- one in which science, informatics, incentives, and culture are aligned to create a continuous learning loop. This learning loop would thus help make the health care system better.

In response, the IOM organized a 2-day workshop to explore in depth the core measurement needs for population health, health care quality, and health care costs. The workshop hoped to gain a full understanding of how to improve the nation's measurement capacity to track progress in the health care system. Having this knowledge would help the nation get one step closer to the creation of an efficient learning loop.

The workshop was divided into a series of sessions that focused on different aspects of measurement. Core Measurement Needs for Better Care, Better Health, and Lower Costs: Counting What Counts: Workshop Summary includes explanations and key details for these sessions: Vision, Current Measurement Capabilities, Specifying the Shape of a Core Metric Set, and Implementation. The report also features common themes within these areas, the workshop agenda, and information about those involved.

Contents

• THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
• PLANNING COMMITTEE ON CORE METRICS FOR BETTER CARE, BETTER HEALTH, AND LOWER COSTS
• ROUNDTABLE ON VALUE & SCIENCE-DRIVEN HEALTH CARE
• Reviewers
• Preface
• Acronyms and Abbreviations
• 1. Introduction
  • THE ROLE OF MEASUREMENT IN A LEARNING HEALTH SYSTEM
  • THE ROUNDTABLE AND THE LEARNING HEALTH SYSTEM SERIES
  • WORKSHOP SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES
  • ROADMAP FOR THE SUMMARY
  • REFERENCES
• 2. Vision
  • VISION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF MEASURING PROGRESS ON CARE, POPULATION HEALTH, AND COSTS
  • SYSTEMS FOR BETTER HEALTH, BETTER CARE, AND LOWER COSTS
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 3. Current Measurement Capabilities
  • THE ROLE OF MEASUREMENT IN THE NATIONAL QUALITY STRATEGY
  • KEY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR CURRENT MEASUREMENT CAPABILITIES
  • CONSISTENT AND TIMELY IMPLEMENTATION OF MEASURES
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 4. Core Metrics Sets in Use
  • ACCOUNTABLE CARE AND MEASURING THE THREE-PART AIM
  • GENERAL THEMES FOR IMPLEMENTATION
  • VERMONT BLUEPRINT FOR HEALTH: CORE METRICS TO GUIDE THE DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 5. Specifying the Shape of a Core Metrics Set
  • HEALTH CARE BREAKOUT GROUP
  • POPULATION HEALTH BREAKOUT GROUP
  • COST BREAKOUT GROUP
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCE
• 6. Implementation
  • ANALYZING HEALTH STATUS ACROSS ALL COUNTIES
  • IMPLEMENTING STATEWIDE MEASUREMENTS ON ACCESS, COST, AND QUALITY
  • A MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORK FOR COORDINATED CARE IN MEDICAID
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 7. Building the Infrastructure
  • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED QUALITY MEASUREMENT
  • WISCONSIN COLLABORATIVE FOR HEALTHCARE QUALITY
  • BUILDING THE DATA INFRASTRUCTURE IN A HEALTH CARE ENVIRONMENT
  • DISCUSSION
  • REFERENCES
• 8. Common Themes
  • COMMON THEMES
  • REFERENCES
• APPENDIXES
  • Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Speakers and Planning Committee
  • Appendix B Workshop Agenda
  • Appendix C Workshop Participants

Rapporteurs: Joe Alper, Julia Sanders, and Robert Sanders.

This activity was supported by Contract/Grant No. 6485813 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Blue Shield of California Foundation. The views presented in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the activity.

Suggested citation:

IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2013. Core measurement needs for better care, better health, and lower costs: Counting what counts: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

NOTICE: The workshop that is the subject of this workshop summary was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.