NCI-IDD Measures Final Endorsement Announced by NQF
National Core Indicators®-Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (NCI-IDD), a partnership between the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services and the Human Services Research Institute, is pleased to announce that the National Quality Forum (NQF) has given its final endorsement of 14 National Core Indicators measures specific to measuring the quality of long-term services and supports for the population with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This endorsement followed a rigorous review of scientific methods, consensus panel analysis, and a public comment period. It was issued in recognition of the high demand for quality measures in home and community-based services. The endorsement is an important step toward enhancing the quality of services and supports provided to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across state systems. Details of the measures endorsed are included on the NQF website.
The National Quality Forum was created in 1999 by a coalition of public- and private-sector leaders after the President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Healthcare Industry concluded that an organization was needed to promote and ensure patient protections and healthcare quality through measurement and public reporting. NQF is the only consensus-based healthcare organization in the nation as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. This status allows the federal government to rely on NQF-defined measures or healthcare practices as the best, evidence-based approaches to improving care. The federal government, states, and private-sector organizations use NQF’s endorsed measures, which must meet rigorous criteria, to evaluate performance and share information with patients and their families.
HSRI Vice President Alixe Bonardi stated, “This endorsement is a significant development in the more than 25-year history of the National Core Indicators. Each year, hundreds of NCI surveyors across the United States have conversations with thousands of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, allowing for the development of publicly available reports that represent people’s experience at the state level. This endorsement is a critical step in our ongoing work to support person-centered quality objectives, and it expands the small but growing set of person-reported outcome measures of HCBS quality that have been vetted and endorsed by the National Quality Forum.” Laura Vegas, NASDDDS Director of NCI noted, “NCI began as NASDDDS sought a data-driven response to states’ interest in making sure people had good lives. NCI has proven to be a wonderful tool to measure those elements important to individuals with disabilities and their families. This endorsement is an enormous accomplishment for our team and an historic moment for NCI, which was born from the visionary leadership of the NASDDDS board more than a quarter century ago.”
View PDF press release here:
https://www.nasddds.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Final-Press-release-NQF-_HSRI.pdf