Ambulatory care quality measures for the 6 aims from administrative data

Pressure is building for performance measures that can be collected inexpensively and repeatedly for internal and external accountability and quality improvement. The objective of this study was to develop and test measures obtainable from administrative data covering each of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) 6 aims. Measure definitions were developed for 3 common chronic conditions and were revised after testing the feasibility of collecting them from claims data. The setting was a large, multispecialty medical group in the Midwest and included all adult patients with diabetes, coronary heart disease, or depression. Problems identified in the original 99 measures led to refinements or elimination. The resulting 46 measures ready for use include 11 measures for 5 aims applicable to most common chronic conditions, plus 10 to 14 effectiveness measures for each condition. They have been successfully used to describe care quality changes for these patients over time. This starter set for the 6 IOM aims should be tested and expanded by others.