CMS is committed to reducing burden and advancing interoperability to improve outcomes. In line with this, CMS has set the goal of transitioning to full digital quality measurement.

The current healthcare and health IT ecosystems have several key barriers that must be overcome to transition to a digital measurement system.

The goal of moving to full digital quality measurement reflects the capacity of health data and technology to achieve better patient outcomes and reduce disparities in care. Interoperability requirements promulgated by CMS and ONC for providers and health plans to make patient data available in a standardized format will enable the transformation to a lower-burden digital quality measurement enterprise. In 2020, ONC introduced new requirements for certified health technology including supporting data exchange of data elements outlined in the United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) version 1 via Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) application programming interfaces (APIs) using the US Core Implementation Guide. The goal of the USCDI is to establish sets of data classes and elements required to support interoperability nationwide. With the new USCDI requirement, the industry can focus on a set of data elements to begin to reliably and accurately map clinical concepts to standards (i.e., FHIR).

In 2022, ONC also launched the USCDI+ initiative focused on supporting identification and establishment of domain-specific datasets, such as quality measurement that build on the USCDI foundation.

This panel will explain CMS’ dQM transformation strategy as well as key CMS activities to advance standards for digital data, such as the USCDI and USCDI+, that could be leveraged for digital quality measurement.