New Patient-Reported Experience Measures Available for Palliative Care Providers

CHICAGO (December 15, 2021)—American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) is pleased to announce the completion of a three-year Palliative Care Measures Project funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). AAHPM, with subrecipients National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care and RAND Corporation, was awarded a $5.5 million three-year cooperative agreement from CMS. The charge was to develop patient-reported quality measures for community-based palliative care for use in CMS’s Quality Payment Program (QPP), including the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Models (APMs).
 
Two new patient-reported experience measures were developed and rigorously tested. Both measures fall under the category of “patient-reported outcome performance measures” or “PRO-PMs.” These are now available for palliative care and other providers to implement in their practice. Specifically, the measures assess the quality of care provided by asking: 1) How much patients felt heard and understood, and 2) If patients got the help they wanted for their pain.
 
“AAHPM is committed to improving the quality of health care delivery to patients with serious illness and their caregivers including the use of meaningful measures for hospice and palliative care quality reporting,” said Nathan Goldstein, MD FAAHPM, president of AAHPM. “We are extremely pleased to have completed the three-year measure development project in order to properly assess the quality of care that is being provided to patients in all settings.”
 
In addition, the measures address the most significant gaps in care today—patient centered, effective symptom management and communication.
 
“We are most proud that the new measures incorporated patient, caregiver and family input along with clinical and other stakeholder feedback during the entire measure development process, thanks to our unique partnership with the National Patient Advocate Foundation (NPAF),” said Amy Melnick, MPA, executive director, National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care.
 
“Elevating voices of patients and caregivers has been prioritized in every aspect of this initiative. NPAF applauds the inclusive and innovative approach of this remarkable partnership,” said Rebecca Kirch, JD, NPAF’s executive vice president, policy and programs.  
 
Results from the official public comment period held Feb. 1 to March 2, 2021, from over 200 stakeholders (i.e., patients, caregivers, patient advocates, clinicians and other health care professionals) showed that clinicians were likely to use both measures—83% stated they were very or somewhat likely to use the ‘Feeling Heard and Understood’ measure and 72% stated they were very or somewhat likely to use the ‘Receiving Desired Help for Pain’ measure.
 
During the three-year effort, a technical expert clinical user patient panel (TECUPP) provided input throughout the measure development, testing and implementation process. Tasks included creating technical specifications and conducting validity and reliability testing. A journal article was published on the cognitive interviewing portion of the project, a research brief summarizes how the measures were created and tested, and additional articles are in development. Both measures have been submitted for consideration to obtain endorsement from the National Quality Forum (NQF) during the fall 2021 review cycle.
 
To learn more, please view the project website.