NQF to advance behavioral and maternal health quality measures

The National Quality Forum will convene a multi-stakeholder initiative to advance quality measures for behavioral health and maternal health outcomes. These new measures ─ identified by the stakeholders and informed by patients and clinicians ─ include outcomes for mild to moderate behavioral health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, and reducing severe maternal morbidity. The initiative will use a rapid-cycle process to develop the measures in two years, compared to the six years or more that are typical of traditional measure development. For every new measure introduced, the NQF will retire at least two measures from its existing measurement and accountability programs to reduce the burden of measurement and move toward outcomes-oriented programs. (NQF news release, 4/13/23)