Pediatric quality measures receive $13.4 million from AHRQ and CMS for testing

Six Pediatric Quality Measures Program (PQMP) grantees have been given $13.4 million to test new pediatric quality measures over the next four years. The money is being provided by CMS and The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) with funds from the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA).

“Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) give millions of children in the United States a healthy start,” said Vikki Wachino, director at the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, in a press release. “Through efforts such as this PQMP funding, we are able to advance states’ efforts to measure and report meaningful improvements in the quality of care for children.”

The pediatric measures were created by the PQMP Centers for Excellence with the goal of creating a portfolio of evidence-based, consensus pediatric quality measures available to public and private purchasers of children’s health care services. Grantees will be expected to test the feasibility and usability of the measures in in real-world settings at the state, health plan, and provider levels.

“The PQMP Centers of Excellence provided us with valid measures of children’s health care quality. This next step of research will help us test these measures in real-world settings,” said AHRQ director Andy Bindman, MD. “The ultimate goal is to improve children’s health through better health care, at lower costs, at both the federal and state level.”