What's New This Week

The National Quality Measures Clearinghouse™ (NQMC™) Web site, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is updated regularly. The new measures are listed alphabetically by developer. To view a new Measure Summary, click on the measure title. To view a complete list of measures available at NQMC, use the Measure Index or the Organization Browse.

October 11, 2004

Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement

Tobacco use prevention and cessation for adults and mature adolescents: percentage of patients with documented tobacco use or exposure at the latest visit who also have documentation that their cessation interest was assessed or that they received advice to quit. This updates a previously published measure summary.

Tobacco use prevention and cessation for adults and mature adolescents: percentage of patients' charts that either show that there is no tobacco use/exposure or (if a user) that the current use was documented at the most recent clinician visit. This updates a previously published measure summary.

Tobacco use prevention and cessation for infants, children and adolescents: percentage of patients with documented tobacco use or exposure at the latest visit who also have documentation that their cessation interest was assessed or that they received advice to quit. This updates a previously published measure summary.

Tobacco use prevention and cessation for infants, children and adolescents: percentage of patients' charts showing either that there is no tobacco use/exposure or (if a user) that the current use was documented at the most recent clinician visit. This updates a previously published measure summary.

Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement

Major depressive disorder (MDD): percentage of patients aged 18 years and older whose depressive symptoms were adequately assessed for the presence of MDD during the initial visit.

Major depressive disorder (MDD): percentage of patients aged 18 years and older whose severity of MDD was classified at the initial visit.

Major depressive disorder (MDD): percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with confirmed diagnosis of major depressive disorder who had a suicide risk assessment completed at each visit.

Major depressive disorder (MDD): percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with confirmed diagnosis of major depressive disorder who received therapy appropriate to their classification.

Major depressive disorder (MDD): percentage of patients aged 18 years and older with confirmed diagnosis of major depressive disorder who were continued on medication for a minimum of 16 weeks following remission of symptoms.

Veterans Health Administration

Heart failure: percent of patients discharged with a principal diagnosis of heart failure with complete discharge instructions in the medical record.

Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement

Adult low back pain: percentage of patients with acute and chronic low back pain and acute and chronic sciatica with a referral for surgical consult six to eight weeks after presenting to the clinic for a new episode.

Newly Submitted

The Specification Manual for National Hospital Quality Measures was recently submitted to NQMC. This is an aligned manual that represents the result of efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to achieve identity among common national hospital performance measures and to share a single set of common documentation.

Look for these summaries in NQMC in the near future!

NQMC Spotlight

Look for the updated Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Inpatient Quality Indicators in NQMC in the near future!

NQMC's Sister Resources

Look for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in AHRQ's National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC).

Look for practical, ready-to-use tools for measuring and improving the quality of health care in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ's) QualityTools Web site.

You may also be interested in subscribing to AHRQ's Electronic Newsletter. Issued periodically as news warrants, AHRQ's Electronic Newsletter describes the results of AHRQ-funded studies, announces new print and electronic resources, updates the status of current funding opportunities, and much more. Subscribe to this free service.

Other Resources

An archive of the weekly updates is also available. To locate a previous issue of "What's New This Week," visit the What's New Archive.

Questions and suggestions about the "What's New" feature are welcome. E-mail NQMC at info@qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov.

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