Nikolas Matthes, MD, PhD, MPH, Assistant Vice President at IPRO, has been named to the Core Quality Measures Collaborative (CQMC) Health Equity Workgroup. CQMC is a broad-based coalition of healthcare leaders working to facilitate cross-payer measure alignment through the development of core sets of measures to assess the quality of healthcare in the United States. It is a public-private partnership between America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) housed at the National Quality Forum (NQF).
“I’m excited to contribute to this important initiative,” said Dr. Matthes. “The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the role that health equity plays in patient outcomes. Safety net hospitals that care for large numbers of patients who lack transportation or have low health literacy may have higher readmission rates or worse outcomes. This panel’s work will help us take those factors into consideration when measuring healthcare quality.”
The workgroup includes representatives from major academic medical centers, health insurers, technology providers, healthcare quality improvement organizations, trade organizations, non-profits and the federal government.
As the U.S. healthcare system continues to evolve away from a payment model based on volume to one based on value, core quality measures continue to assume a prominent role in healthcare financing. To participate in value-based payment programs, providers must collect and report data on quality, patient experience and efficiency. Dr. Matthes and the CQMC Health Equity Workgroup will evaluate the impact of healthcare disparities on these data measures. The goals of the workgroup are to identify CQMC core measures that are disparities sensitive; review available measures related to health equity; prioritize measure gap areas related to health equity; and evaluate adoption strategies for health equity measures.
At IPRO, Dr. Matthes has led the New York State Sepsis Improvement Initiative and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) reporting projects. Prior to joining IPRO, Dr. Matthes led research and product development for the Press Ganey Associates clinical business unit, focusing on patient-reported outcomes and nursing-sensitive quality measures. He also led indicator development for the Maryland Hospital Association’s Quality Indicator Project. Dr. Matthes has comprehensive expertise in healthcare analytics, measurement solutions, and quality measure development and implementation across a wide range of care settings with a focus on meeting regulatory and accreditation requirements and succeeding under value-based payment models.
About IPRO: IPRO is a national, not-for-profit healthcare organization that works with government agencies, providers and consumers to implement innovative programs that bring policy ideas to life. IPRO does this by making creative use of clinical expertise, emerging technology, data solutions, and diverse marketplace experience to make the healthcare system work better. Incorporated in 1983, IPRO is one of the nation’s largest and most experienced healthcare quality improvement organizations.
About CQMC: Founded in 2015, the CQMC is a public-private partnership between America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) housed at the National Quality Forum (NQF). The membership is comprised of over 70 member organizations health insurance providers, primary care and specialty societies, consumer and employer groups, and other quality collaboratives. CQMC is a membership driven and funded effort with additional funding provided by CMS and AHIP. The CQMC is currently convened by the National Quality Forum (NQF) in its role as the consensus-based entity.