Under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA), which organization did the Department of Health and Human Services contract with to establish a portfolio of quality and efficiency?

• A. Institute of Medicine (IOM)
• B. National Quality Forum (NQF)
• C. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• D. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is who HHS tapped to create and maintain a unified set of quality and efficiency measures under MIPPA. The contract went to the National Quality Forum (NQF). NQF is a neutral, consensus-driven organization that endorses and harmonizes quality measures, ensuring they are valid, reliable, and useful for policymakers and providers. By choosing NQF, HHS leveraged an independent body skilled at coordinating a portfolio of measures that can be used across programs to drive quality improvement. The other groups—Institute of Medicine, AHRQ, and CMS—each have important roles in research, guidance, and program administration, but they were not the entity contracted to establish the measure portfolio under MIPPA.