Public Comment: New Measures on Genomic Medicine
April 5, 2023 · Andy Reynolds
NCQA is opening public comment from April 10–May 1 for proposed measures related to Lynch syndrome, a hereditary cause of colon cancer.
The proposed new measures are the next step in NCQA’s assessment of health systems and genomic medicine:
- Tumor Screening or Direct Genetic Testing for Lynch Syndrome Following a New Cancer Diagnosis.
- Genetic Counseling and Testing for Lynch Syndrome Following Positive Tumor Screening.
- Family Notification Following a Lynch Syndrome Diagnosis.
What’s Different
Three things distinguish our work on Lynch syndrome and the proposed measures:
- Focus on genomics. These are NCQA’s first performance measures related to genetic conditions and genetic testing. As genomic medicine grows, we’ll need information about its outcomes and quality.
- Working with health systems. Focusing on health systems takes quality measurement beyond NCQA’s traditional focus on health plans or physicians and physician practices. That helps quality measurement keep up with industry changes like consolidation of providers and payers into health systems.
- Using electronic data sources. The proposed measures make greater use of electronic clinical data sources. Measuring Lynch syndrome can inform NCQA’s efforts to encourage sharing of information across health care entities—and is part of the larger industry evolution to digital measurement.
Commenting on the Measures
Public comment for Lynch syndrome measures will go live on Monday, April 10, 9:00 AM ET.
We’ll post the link and more details here, so check back.
