Introduction to Measures That Matter to Primary Care
The Measures That Matter to Primary Care are a suite of clinical quality measures that the American Board of Family Medicine endorses for simplifying and improving measurement of Primary Care.
They are:
A More Meaningful Standard for Primary Care
Whole-person clinical quality measures are the underpinning of what matters in primary care. They are relevant to all communities, in all public health situations, and across all diseases, providing a way to quantify patient-centered quality care.
Measures That Matter to Primary Care focus on more personalized care, taking into account what matters to both patients and clinicians. While current clinical quality measures focused on disease specific care have value, they are not aligned with the foundations of primary care or the needs of patients, communities, and health systems.
Measures That Matter are designed for use across multiple levels of the health care system:
Primary Care Practices
- Meet patient needs by focusing attention on what matters
- Reduce burnout and burden by organizing practice around the reason they went into patient care
Employers
- Assess if the care they are purchasing is doing what their employees and their clinicians have identified as what matters
- Require that systems support aspects of primary care that matter
Patients
- Participate in health care improvement
- Provide information important for caring for them as a whole person
Insurers and Healthcare Systems
- Identify where to invest to support those delivering high quality primary care
- Develop systems that support integrating, personalizing and prioritizing care
