NQF will create framework linking telehealth, readiness and outcomes

To help rural communities address the challenges of delivering quality care via telehealth, especially during emergencies, the National Quality Forum (NQF) announced it convened a committee this week in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The committee is tasked with creating a measurement framework linking quality of care delivered by telehealth, health care system readiness and health outcomes in a disaster. While telehealth offers tremendous potential to transform care delivery, the announcement stated, COVID-19 has magnified the barriers rural areas face, such as resource constraints, hospital closures, shortages of health care professionals and lack of broadband access. NQF will provide opportunities for comment on the committee’s work. Interested parties can sign-up for project alerts. (NQF news release, 1/26/21)