The CMS National Quality Strategy: A Person-Centered Approach to Improving Quality explores the role of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in improving health outcomes and healthcare quality, and the challenges that have been exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Access the CMS Memo to Introduce the Quality Strategy (June 6, 2022)
The National Quality Strategy includes 8 core goals:
- Embed Quality into the Care Journey: Incorporate quality as a foundational component to delivering value as a part of the overall care journey. Quality includes ensuring optimal care and best outcomes for individuals of all ages and backgrounds as well as across service delivery systems and settings. Quality also extends across payer types.
- Advance Health Equity: Address the disparities that underlie our health system, both within and across settings, to ensure equitable access and care for all.
- Promote Safety: Prevent harm or death from health care errors.
- Foster Engagement: Increase engagement between individuals and their care teams to improve quality, establish trusting relationships and bring the voices of people and caregivers to the forefront.
- Strengthen Resilience: Ensure resilience in the health care system to prepare for, and adapt to, future challenges and emergencies.
- Embrace the Digital Age: Ensure timely, secure, seamless communication and care coordination between providers, plans, payers, community organizations and individuals through interoperable, shared and standardized digital data across the care continuum.
- Incentivize Innovation & Technology: Accelerate innovation in care delivery and incorporate technology enhancements (e.g. telehealth, machine learning, advanced analytics, new care advances) to transform the quality of care and advance value.
- Increase Alignment: Develop a coordinated approach to align performance metrics, programs, policy and payment across CMS, federal partners and external stakeholders to improve value. Strive to create a simplified national picture of quality measurement that is comprehensible to individuals, their families, providers and payers.
The launch of the CMS National Quality Strategy and discussion of the overall vision for quality is the first phase in this new multi-part approach. The next, and arguably most important phase, is implementation. This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road – where CMS, in collaboration with stakeholders, develops and operationalizes both short and long-term actions to drive forward the goals of the CMS National Quality Strategy.
The success of this strategy relies on coordination, innovative thinking, and collaboration across all entities. A unified approach brings everyone one step closer to the health care system envisioned for every individual.
Now is the time to act. If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it is that no action is too small to improve the overall quality and safety for every individual seeking care. CMS is committed to driving quality forward over the next decade and looks forward to working with all interested stakeholders to improve the health care system. Continuous engagement is pivotal and CMS will begin listening sessions in early summer 2022.
Additional Resources
- The CMS National Quality Strategy: A Person-Centered Approach to Improving Quality
- CMS National Quality Strategy Fact Sheet (April 2022) (PDF)
- CMS Cross Cutting Initiatives Fact Sheet (April 2022) (PDF)
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services