Glossary

A parameter estimate provides a statistical approximation of a specific measure describing a population.

A patient-reported outcome (PRO) is a status report of a patient’s health condition or health behavior that comes directly from the patient, without interpretation of the patient’s response by a clinician or anyone else. This definition reflects the key domains of

• Health-related quality of life (including functional status)
• Symptoms and symptom burden (e.g., pain, fatigue)
• Health behaviors (e.g., smoking, diet, exercise)

(Adapted from the Food and Drug Administration. (2009). Guidance for industry PRO measures: Use in medical product development to support labeling claims. https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/patient-reported-outcome-measures-use-medical-product-development-support-labeling-claims) 

A patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) is an instrument, scale, or single-item measure used for assessing a patient-reported outcome concept as perceived by the patient, obtained by directly asking the patient to self-report

A patient-reported outcome-based performance measure (PRO-PM) is a performance measure based on patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) data aggregated for an accountable health care entity. Measured entities collect the data directly from the patient using the PROM tool, which can be an instrument, scale, or single-item measure.

Pioneers in Quality™ is a collaborative Joint Commission program to improve health care quality and patient safety through education (e.g., webinars for continuing education units), innovation, and recognition of pioneering practices for Joint Commission interested parties. Started in 2016 to assist hospitals on their electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) journey to improve eCQM data use for quality improvement, Joint Commission has expanded the program over time to include additional key components related to eCQM and chart-abstracted data.

A point estimate provides a single value to use from a sample to estimate the population parameter.

Population, Intervention, Comparator group, Outcomes, Time interval, Settings (PICOTS) is a framework for delineating clinical questions facilitating identification of relevant research evidence. For example, among adults with non-cancer-related pain (Population) who receive an opioid pain medication (Intervention) versus a non-opioid pain medication or placebo (Comparator), what are the effects on ratings of pain, functioning, and quality of life (Outcome) within 3 months of treatment (Time) in outpatient settings of care (Setting)? Chang, S. M. and Matchar, D. B. (Eds.). (2012, June). Methods guide for medical test reviews. AHRQ Publication No. 12-EHC017. Retrieved March 20. 2024, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK98241/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK98241.pdf

Postman is a collaboration platform for application programming interface development and testing. It is also a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) client that tests HTTP requests through which one obtains different types of responses utilizing a graphical user interface. Postman provides a simple endpoint interaction method for posting requests and updates to Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) servers and participants may use for testing FHIR-based electronic clinical quality measures during Health Level Seven International® Connectathons.

A process measure is a measure focusing on steps that should be followed to provide good care. There should be a scientific basis for believing the process, when executed well, will increase the probability of achieving a desired outcome.

Program Candidate measures are measures not yet adopted for use in a CMS quality reporting program. The measure specifications use versions of standards and tools designated for a specific reporting/performance period. Program Candidate measures are not eligible for CMS quality reporting until CMS proposes and finalizes through notice-and-comment rulemaking for each applicable program.

A proportion is a score derived by dividing the number of cases meeting a criterion for quality (the numerator) by the number of eligible cases within a given time frame (the denominator) where the numerator cases are a subset of the denominator cases (for example, percentage of eligible women with a mammogram performed in the last year).

Public comments ensure measures are developed and maintained using a transparent process with balanced input from relevant interested parties. Public comment periods provide an opportunity for the widest array of interested parties to provide input on the measures, both under development and in use, and can provide critical suggestions not previously considered by the measure developer or its Technical Expert Panel. Electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) public comments can be made in response to a new eCQM's call for comments, eCQMs in the pre-rulemaking and rulemaking process, eCQMs in testing, eCQMs undergoing updates, and updates to standards and tools used with eCQMs.

Health Level Seven International® (HL7®) provides a list of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® servers publicly available for testing. These are public services provided by volunteers and HL7 makes no representations concerning their safety or reliability.