Introduction to healthcare measures

A healthcare measure is a calculation made on the care activities of a provider that indicates the level of quality provided by the caregiver. As providers are increasingly being rewarded based on the quality rather than the quantity of services they provide, healthcare measures are playing a more important role in determining which care providers are rewarded or penalized. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is just one of the federal-level agencies in the United States that publishes standardized measures; in addition, states publish measures as well. Providers calculate the measures using the data of their own patients and then submit their calculations to be audited by the issuing agency. The results partially determine how the providers are reimbursed by the agency.

A typical measure in healthcare is usually a ratio or percentage that correlates with care quality. There are typically two parts that make up a measure: a numerator and...