What is a quality measure?

A measure is a tool that provides information about how well your practice is doing in managing patient treatment and care. It is able to look at a subset of your patient population and assess the quality of care they have received.

This is done by assessing:

• Clinical processes: Are practices in place to ensure that the best quality of care is performed?

• Clinical outcomes: How successful are treatments and interventions in improving patient health outcomes?

Why are measures important?

Measures collect meaningful data that can be used to improve care. They are also used for value-based payment programs. Ultimately, measures show the true value of dermatology. This is done in three distinct ways:

1. Quality innovation. Providers are able to see how well they and other providers compare when administering care, assessing trends, and pinpointing if/when something needs to be changed. Measurement also enables providers to make improvements to advance patient outcomes and search for causes when expectations aren’t met.

2. Patient participation. Measures are increasingly becoming publicly available and patients are able to use the information to make informed decisions regarding their health and health care quality.

3. Payment. Both the public and private sector use measures to influence reimbursement. Increasingly, providers must show that they are delivering high-value, low-cost care to receive the maximum reimbursement.

What are the AAD measures?

The AAD is working to expand the number and type of dermatology-specific measures available to dermatologists. Dermatology measures are needed to meet CMS reporting requirements and for quality innovation.

Measures are supported by the AAD’s CMS-approved clinical registry DataDerm, which can help members with the following:

• MIPS reporting

• Benchmarking

• Development of quality improvement (QI) projects

• Specialty advocacy

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