Clinical Quality Measure Alignment

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To reduce the reporting burden on clinicians and focus quality efforts to achieve the greatest impact on outcomes, Million Hearts® staff worked with public and private partners to align and embed a small set of clinical quality measures into major national programs. High performance on these measures will accelerate progress in preventing heart attack and stroke, kidney and heart failure, and cognitive decline.

Download the Million Hearts® measures  [PDF – 91 KB]

Since the launch of Million Hearts®, tremendous progress on measure alignment has been made by public and private partners. This achievement required action from a wide range of stakeholders committed to heart disease and stroke prevention, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Million Hearts® Clinical Quality Measures Alignment in Select National Programs

Million Hearts® Clinical Quality Measures Alignment in Select National Programs
Primary Measures
Secondary Measures
Programs
Aspirin When Appropriate
Blood Pressure Control
Cholesterol Management
Smoking Assessment and Treatment
Cardiac Rehab Referrals (From Inpatient or Outpatient Sites)
CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
  • CMS QPP—Cardiology Specialty Group
 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
  • CMS QPP—Internal Medicine Specialty Group
 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
  • CMS QPP—General/Family Medicine Speciality Group
 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
ABFM PRIME Registry Yesc Yes Yes Yes No
AHRQ EvidenceNow Yesc Yes Yes Yes No
HRSA Uniform Data Systema (UDS) Yesc Yes Yes Yes No
National Quality Forum (NQF) Yes Yes No Yes Yes
ACP Genesis Registry Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
CMS Shared Savings Program No Yes Yes Yes No
Core Quality Measures Collaborativeb Yes Yes Yes Yes No
IHS Resource and Patient Management System Yesc Yes Yes Yes No
ACC PINNACLE Registry Yes Yes No Yes Yes
CMS Medicaid Adult Core Set No Yes No No No
CMS Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) Initiative No Yes No No No
NCQA Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) No Yes No Yesc Yes

Programs column: bolded text = public programs; unbolded text = private programs.

“Yes” Indicates measure alignment as of October 2022.

Acronyms: CMS = Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, QPP = Quality Payment Program, CPC+ = Comprehensive Primary Care Plus, ABFM = American Board of Family Medicine, AHRQ = Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HRSA = Health Resources and Services Administration, UDS = Uniform Data System, NQF = National Quality Forum, AHA = American Heart Association, ACP = American College of Physicians, IHS = Indian Health Service, ACC = American College of Cardiology, NCQA = National Committee for Quality Assurance, HEDIS = Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, HHQI = Home Health Quality Improvement.

aHRSA analogs: Percentage of patients aged 18 years or older who were discharged alive for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in the prior year OR who had a diagnosis of ischemic vascular disease during the measurement year who had documentation of use of aspirin or another antithrombotic; Percentage of patients 18 to 85 years with diagnosed hypertension (HTN) whose blood pressure (BP) was less than 140/90 at the time of the last reading; Percentage of patients age 18 years and older who were screened for tobacco use at least once during the measurement year or prior year AND who received cessation counseling intervention and/or pharmacotherapy if identified as a tobacco user.

bCore Measure Collaborative is led by the America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and its member plans’ Chief Medical Officers, leaders from CMS, and the National Quality Forum.
cClose measure analog.

Table 2. Million Hearts® Clinical Quality Measures Analog Numbering Conventions

Million Hearts CQM Analog Numbering Conventions
Primary Measures
Secondary Measures
Programs
Aspirin When Appropriate
Blood Pressure Control
Cholesterol Management
Smoking Assessment and Treatment
Outpatient Cardiac Rehab Referrals
Inpatient Cardiac Rehab Referrals
CMS Quality ID 006 236 438 226 243 n/a
CMS eMeasure ID n/a CMS165 CMS347 CMS138 n/a n/a
National Quality Forum (NQF) NQF 0067 NQF 0018 n/a NQF 0028 NQF 0643 NQF 0642
CMS Shared Savings Program n/a ACO-28 ACO-42 ACO-17 n/a n/a

Programs column: bolded text = public program; unbolded text = private program.

Acronyms: CMS = Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, NQF = National Quality Forum, ACO = Accountable Care Organization.