The PQA Quality Innovation and Research Center (QuIRC) will deliver the next generation of medication use quality measures and tools for improving medication use outcomes.

QuIRC brings together the data, infrastructure, resources and planning needed to:

• prioritize opportunities to achieve national quality goals
• forge strategic partnerships with key stakeholders in the medication use process
• develop new, complex quality measures
• accurately attribute provider contributions to care
• support effective measure use
• provide solutions for improving medication use and medication management services

Developing accurate and meaningful outcomes-focused measures requires innovative approaches to research and measure development to ensure that measures are valid and feasible in real-world settings. Through pilot, demonstration and research projects and consensus-building events, QuIRC answers the difficult questions needed to identify, prioritize, develop and effectively implement complex measures.

Building the Next Generation of Quality Measures and Tools

Quality measures based on claims data have greatly improved our ability to evaluate and compare the quality of care and patient experience provided by health and drug plans. Medical and prescription claims data, however, may only tell part of the quality story.

We need more robust data – complex and detailed information about patients and the care they receive – to develop new measures that more precisely evaluate which approaches to care deliver the best outcomes for patients.

The next generation of medication use quality measurement requires us to build on traditional pharmacy dispensing and care management data by integrating other clinical, registry, and patient-reported data. For example, additional data on the social drivers of health shed light on access to care issues and outcomes for underserved and vulnerable populations.

We have more data than ever to measure the quality of care, but connecting this data across care settings to develop measures is a
challenge that we seek to overcome.

QuIRC in Action

Oral anticancer medication (OAM) use has grown dramatically over the last two decades, but few measures exist to effectively evaluate OAM medication services and outcomes. Although prior efforts have focused on oncology quality measurement gaps, little progress has been made to develop meaningful OAM use quality measures to assess health plan and pharmacy performance due to data and methodological challenges in this therapeutic area. Given this dearth of OAM measures, stakeholders engaged PQA to advance opportunities to improve OAM medication use quality.

Through QuIRC, PQA …

• Conducted an extensive environmental scan to understand the state of practice and quality gaps
• Convened national stakeholders, experts and patients to prioritize quality improvement opportunities
• Published a consensus-based report of prioritized measurement and research opportunities
• Committed to advance a meaningful health plan measure concept for adherence or persistence to OAMs.

QuIRC brings it all together, building national consensus and identifying actionable steps that advance quality medication use.