AHRQ National Quality Measures Provide Updates for Wisconsin's Quality Performance Measures

Wisconsin's state Medicaid managed care program utilizes the AHRQ National Quality Measures Clearinghouse^TM (NQMC) in updating and adding to its quality performance measures. The program consists of 13 HMOs and includes Medicaid and Badger Care enrollees in Wisconsin. Badger Care is the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Though development of the state's MEDDIC-MS (Medicaid Encounter Data Driven Improvement Core Measure Set) managed care performance measures predates the availability of NQMC, the State of Wisconsin found it to be a valuable resource to its ongoing quality assessment and performance improvement program.

"The NQMC repository of information about other measure sets is a resource that I use in assessing measures for future use, to include possible new topics, data sources, and technical specifications," says Gary R. Ilminen, RN, Nurse Consultant in the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.

"In my opinion, state Medicaid programs that use managed care as a delivery system nationwide will find tremendous value in the NQMC as they consider how best to assess the quality of care and service provided," Ilminen continues. "Faced with the practical and regulatory issues related to performance measurement, I can think of no other single resource on the subject of higher value to state Medicaid managed care program managers in that effort."

As Wisconsin continues to develop and improve its performance monitoring systems, staff will find the NQMC "extremely useful," in Ilminen's words. "As other Medicaid managed care programs are developed for special populations here in Wisconsin, the NQMC will be an important resource in the development of performance measures for those programs," he adds.

Ilminen is a supporter of AHRQ's products and their value to users. "The NQMC, combined with the National Guideline Clearinghouse^TM, make the AHRQ site a valuable resource for clinical performance measurement and improvement in any form of delivery system," he states.

The NQMC is a database and Web site for information on specific evidence-based health care quality measures and measure sets. NQMC is sponsored by AHRQ to promote widespread access to quality measures by the health care community and other interested individuals.