Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

Chapter 4: 2012 – 2016

As a specialty, we must either engage in creating and implementing clinically valid performance measures or give up our ability to influence. Evidence-based products developed by otolaryngologists for otolaryngologist will be needed for our specialty to meet the demands of payers, accrediting bodies, and maintenance of certification and licensures programs, so that our members can succeed in the changing healthcare marketplace. As otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons, we must take the lead in defining what ‘quality care’ means for our specialty. Your Academy’s goal is to develop clinical practice guidelines and work in conjunction with national quality partner organizations to use the guidelines in development of performance measures that can apply to every practicing otolaryngologist head and neck surgeon as quickly and efficiently as possible.” - Rodney P. Lusk, MD, 2011 - 2012 President, March 2012 Bulletin

and adoption of clinical performance measures. The AAO-HNSF partnered with the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) to develop two measure sets: Acute Otitis Externa and Adult Sinusitis with the CPGs on these topics serving as the basis for the measure set development. The Adult Sinusitis measures were included in the CMS proposed physician fee schedule for 2014 with four of the nine being accepted for inclusion into PQRS. The AAO-HNSF continued to update and provide members with information on compliance with PQRS. With the changes in payment based on SGR and all indications pointing to ongoing quality reporting requirements, the AAO-HNSF recognized that the need for quality measures for the specialty would continue to exist. In response, the Board approved incorporating quality measures into the work of Research and Quality in 2014. This required building an infrastructure to support work on measures development, stewardship, and endorsement activities. The Performance Measures Task Force was launched in 2014 and included Dr. Rosenfeld (Chair), Dr. Ishii, Dr. Denneny, Richard V. Smith, MD, Jane T. Dillon, MD, MBA, Julie L. Goldman, MD, and Dr. Nielsen with its first meeting in February 2015. Specific outcomes included a commitment to develop two prioritized sets of measures based on CPGs, a continued collaboration with the AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (AMA-PCPI) for measures testing, and exploration of tools that would facilitate faster development of measures from CPGs. The Academy’s work in clinical

quality measures also centered on assuring that an adequate pipeline of measures was available for Maintenance of Certification by otolaryngologists and other physicians for quality improvement and quality reporting purposes. The Academy also looked to the development of the clinical data registry in utilizing EHR data as well as claims data to craft quality metrics quickly for inclusion in quality reporting programs such as PQRS, Meaningful Use, and Value-Based Modifier. It was also crucial that the AAO-HNSF disseminate its measures as broadly as possible to improve patient care and outcomes. To that end, in 2015, the AAO-HNSF secured inclusion in PQRS of adult sinusitis and acute otitis externa measures and measure groups and continued to expand that list in subsequent years.

2013: Launched ENTLINK app to help patients locate an ENT quickly and easily.

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