dQMs - Digital Quality Measures

​​The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has set the goal of advancing quality measurement by transitioning all quality measures used in its reporting programs to digital quality measures (dQMs). CMS has developed a dQM Strategic Roadmap to outline the strategy activities required to transition to digital measurement.

Advancements in the interoperability of health care data and requirements from CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) have created an opportunity to modernize CMS’s quality measurement systems. The ONC 21st Century Cures Act final rule requires health information technology (IT) developers to update their certified health IT to support Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) Release 4 and specific data standards. Aligning technology requirements for health care providers, payers, and health IT developers allows for advancement of an interoperable health IT infrastructure that ensures providers and patients have access to health data when and where it is needed.

CMS has outlined four domains to enable transformation of the quality measurement enterprise:

• improve data quality
• advance technology
• optimize data aggregation
• enable alignment of data, tools, and measures

For each of these four domains, CMS will evolve technical components, leverage policymaking, and engage stakeholders to improve patient care and support the transition to digital quality measurement over the coming years. This figure depicts the four key foci to advance digital quality measurement: improve data quality, advance technology, optimize data aggregation, and enable alignment of data, tools, and measures.