PQA is launching a Health Plan Measure Concept Advisory Group (MCAG) to review and provide input on measure concepts for development in 2026 and beyond. The group will provide guidance to prioritize health plan measure concepts, evaluating key criteria such as:
PQA has appointed individuals from member organizations to serve on the 2025 PQA Measure Update Panel (MUP) and Quality Metrics Expert Panel (QMEP).
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a serious global health concern impacting millions of individuals. Despite being the third leading cause of mortality worldwide, COPD remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. Quality measures are a vital component of value-based payment models, but there are few COPD measures in current U.S. quality reporting programs, despite the established burden of COPD.
The use of specialty medicine has grown rapidly in recent decades, fueling parallel growth in the number of specialty pharmacies that serve patients who are prescribed specialty medications. Patients receiving specialty medications often have complex, high-cost treatment needs, necessitating close management from care teams, including specialty pharmacies. Specialty pharmacies dispense medications, for which timely initiation of therapy is a clinical priority to optimize outcomes.
Insulin persistence is associated with positive health and economic outcomes, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Mississippi, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA), and Ohio Northern University, the results of which were published in Clinical Diabetes in December of 2023. The study highlights the promising applicability of a method to measure insulin persistence at the population level. This same method is the foundation for PQA’s Persistence to Basal Insulin (PST-INS) health plan performance measure.
PQA has appointed individuals from member organizations to serve on the 2024 PQA Measure Update Panel (MUP) and Quality Metrics Expert Panel (QMEP).
PQA is working with its members and the broader medication therapy management (MTM) community to build consensus on the research, measurement and strategies needed to evolve our national approach to evaluating MTM service quality.
Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects how the body produces or uses insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar.1 In the US, 34.2 million adults have diabetes, and 1 in 5 are unaware of their diagnosis.2 Medication is a mainstay in diabetes treatment, and a wide variety of medication classes are used to manage the disease.
Registration has opened for “PQA Convenes: Advancing Medication Therapy Management Quality Measurement,” which will take place on Thursday, November 2 in Arlington, Va. This invite-only event will bring together PQA members and industry experts to discuss the state of medication therapy management (MTM) practice, implications of recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposals and opportunities to evolve MTM quality measurement.
The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) seeks interested pharmacy and payer partners to participate in proof-of-concept pilots to implement and test high priority immunization pharmacy measure concepts.
PQA has launched the PQA Quality Innovation and Research Initiative to Advance Medication Therapy Management Quality Measurement – a national initiative to advance medication therapy management (MTM) quality measurement and other strategies to evaluate MTM services.
PQA has appointed 16 individuals from member organizations to serve on a technical expert panel (TEP) to review and provide input on draft specifications for the pharmacy measure concept, Specialty Pharmacy Prescription Abandonment Rate [Pharmacy] (SP-AR-PH).
PQA has appointed 19 individuals from member organizations to serve on a technical expert panel (TEP) to review and provide input on specific approaches to ensuring PQA’s measures support equitable health care.
Health outcomes can be influenced by many factors other than the health care services received, including patient-related factors such as existing clinical conditions and sociodemographic status (SDS), which refers to a variety of socioeconomic (e.g., income, education, occupation) and demographic factors (e.g., age, race, ethnicity, primary language).
PQA uses a systematic, transparent, and consensus-based process to conceptualize, specify, test, and endorse quality measures. Following endorsement by PQA’s membership, PQA measures can be implemented into various quality programs, including those maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Many PQA measures are used in CMS Quality Programs to evaluate safe and appropriate medication use among beneficiaries.
PQA has appointed individuals from member organizations to serve on the 2023 PQA Measure Update Panel (MUP) and Quality Metrics Expert Panel (QMEP).
PQA follows a systematic, transparent, and consensus-based process in the development and maintenance of measures. This process ensures that PQA measures are relevant and continue to support improvement in health care.
The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) has developed a new health plan performance measure focused on medication adherence, Proportion of Days Covered Composite (PDC-CMP). PQA is actively soliciting feedback on this measure via a public comment period which opened on October 3 and will close on October 24, 2022. Stakeholders are invited to provide comments.
PQA has appointed 15 individuals from member organizations to serve on a technical expert panel (TEP) to review and provide input on draft specification for a health plan performance measure concept: COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) Treatment Ratio (CTR).
PQA, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance, has begun developing a health plan performance measure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
