New NCQA eMeasure Certification Program to Expand HIT Data Use in Measure Reporting

WASHINGTON, DC—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has launched an eMeasure Certification program to certify an organization's software code that produces electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) results.

The eMeasure Certification program ensures that the code extracts and correctly reports data in a standard format: Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA). Health plans can obtain QRDA files from vendors certified by NCQA and, with other data, use them for quality reporting systems such as the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Stars.

The eMeasure Certification program will enhance the way plans can access, collect and evaluate health information technology (HIT) data, allow more electronic data to be used in quality reporting and provide detailed information on health care performance.

"Given the industry's continued movement toward payment for value-based care, reliance on validated clinical quality measurement reporting is more important than ever," said NCQA Chief Information Officer, Rick Moore. "NCQA is proud to leverage the expertise of measurement validation by offering eMeasure Certification."

"We believe our certification process raises the bar for electronic data reporting," said Moore. "Using NCQA eMeasure Certified HIT vendors reassures users of the reliability of the software they use to evaluate clinical quality."

For more information about eMeasure Certification, visit http://www.ncqa.org/HEDISQualityMeasurement/CertifiedSurveyVendorsAuditorsSoftwareVendors/eMeasureCertification.aspx