Selecting Measures to Highlight in the 2004 NHQR and NHDR

In 2004, the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) will use a chartbook presentation style rather than the text-based style of the 2003 reports. This requires being more selective when choosing the measures to be highlighted because only a limited number of measures/presentations of measures can be made in chartbooks. The NHQR-DR team, with ample support from internal data experts and the interagency workgroups for both reports, has attempted to make an initial "cut" at measures to be highlighted in the 2004 reports. The criteria here were used for selecting measures to ensure the most scientific and empirical process possible.

Select to access the 2004 NHQR and NHDR Proposed Final Measure Sets.

Background

The selection of "key" measures to be highlighted in the 2004 NHQR and NHDR is described in Selection Criteria. When possible, the same measures were selected for the NHQR and the NHDR. However, in certain instances (detailed below) some criteria for measure selection are relatively more important for the presentation of national trend data (NHQR) while some criteria are more important for robust presentation of priority populations data (NHDR). Therefore, there are some chapters where the NHQR will highlight additional measures beyond the NHDR or, in very limited instances, different measures from the NHDR.

It is important to note that, while the criteria were uniformly applied to the selection of each highlighted measure, this process was done as a consensus-building exercise designed to ensure the maximum amount of support across the Department for the measures in the 2004 report. As such, certain criteria may be more or less emphasized in the selection of any given measure.

General Criteria

Note that for inclusion in the measure sets, measures have already met criteria for:

• Importance.
• Scientific soundness.
• Feasibility.

Specific Criteria

These are additional criteria for selecting measures to highlight among those in the measure sets:

• New data: Choose measures with new data.
• Proximity to care: Choose process measures over outcome measures wherever possible.
• Clinical significance: Choose measures with greater clinical significance.
• Methodological soundness: Choose measures with fewer methodological caveats.
• Prevalence: Choose measures that affect more people.
• Variability: Choose measures that show significant changes over time, across States, or among relevant subpopulations.
• Generalizability: Choose measures that apply to the general population rather than specific populations.
• Number of comparisons: Choose measures that allow more comparisons by race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status (SES).
• Specificity: Choose measures that are more specific for particular target populations.

Selection Criteria

To access the selection criteria for the proposed final measure sets, select:

• NHQR Key Highlight Measures/Measure Groups.
• NHDR Key Highlight Measures/Measure Groups.

Current as of May 2004

Internet Citation:

Selecting Measures to Highlight in the 2004 NHQR and NHDR. May 2004. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr04/himeasures.htm

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