Developing, reviewing, and maintaining quality measures used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is important for improving the quality of healthcare in the United States.

Since 2024, Hidalgo Medical Services (HMS) has participated in a national, consensus-based process for reviewing and endorsing quality measures for use by CMS. HMS Director of Quality and Safety, Ethan Novikoff, MPH, was appointed to serve on two Partnership for Quality Measurement review committees on behalf of HMS in July 2024. Mr. Novikoff currently serves on a Pre-Rulemaking Measure Review committee, which focuses on reviewing measures under consideration and deciding whether to recommend a measure for use in a specific CMS program. This committee consists of diverse representatives from all facets of the health care system, including patients, caregivers, patient advocates, and traditionally underrepresented groups.

According to the Partnership for Quality Measurement, one of three CMS-certified consensus-based entities, the goal of these measure review efforts is to achieve consensus on the appropriateness of measures under consideration for the intended CMS program(s) and target population(s). It is important for quality measures to be meaningful and tailored to unique program and population needs. Quality measures should be balanced and scaled to meet program-specific goals, and should demonstrate a clear vision of near- and long-term program impacts.

By participating in this process, HMS helps represent the perspectives and priorities of our community’s health care needs at the national level and ensures that measures support high-quality health care for our patients and communities.

If you’d like to learn more about this process, please visit the CMS Measure Implementation website: https://mmshub.cms.gov/measure-lifecycle/measure-implementation/overview