The Department of Health and Human Services could improve Medicare quality through its clinical data registry program if it concentrated on performance measures, concluded a new federal report released this week.
The report, conducted by the Government Accountability Office, recommended that HHS, which was required by the 2012 American Taxpayer Relief Act to establish a registry program, follow several key requirements and have strategic oversight of qualified clinical data registries.
Specifically, GAO identified the requirements as directing clinical data registries (CDRs) to focus data collection on performance measures that address "key opportunities for improvement in quality and efficiency for each CDR's target population and requiring CDRs to demonstrate improvement over time on the quality and efficiency measures that they collect."
Moreover, HHS needs to be more transparent and communicative to further "help qualified CDRs to improve the quality and efficiency of care provided to Medicare patients." This, the report states, includes outlining privacy requirements for physicians participating in CDRs.
GAO officials also underscored the importance of HHS facilitating the adoption of health information technology across CDRs, part of which involves IT standards in EHRs. "One way HHS can influence whether EHR vendors use IT standards to design EHR systems that are compatible with CDR needs is through its setting of meaningful use requirements in its EHR incentive programs," according to the report.
Specific GAO recommendations for HHS include:
- Focus its requirements for qualified CDRs on improving quality and efficiency
- Require qualified CDRs to demonstrate improvement in quality and efficiency
- Draw on expert judgment to monitor qualified CDRs
- Reduce barriers to the development of qualified CDRs
- Include, if feasible, key data elements needed by qualified CDRs in its requirements under the EHR incentive programs.