FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For Further Information Contact:
Desiree M. Voinche
Manager, Communications and Outreach
voinched@dfmc.org
410-872-9624

Delmarva Foundation Staff to
Help Review Standardized Measures for Outpatient Care

Easton, Maryland, February 1, 2005-Delmarva Foundation' s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Michael Tooke, has been selected to participate in the National Quality Forum (NQF) Standardizing Ambulatory Care Performance Measures project as a member of the Review/Steering Committee.

The Committee's work will begin with an expedited review of ambulatory measures submitted by CMS, NCQA, and the AMA Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement. The Review Committee will meet for 2 days in late March 2005 to make recommendations to the NQF membership regarding these measures. They will review measure evaluations and recommendations from the Technical Advisory Panels for each area.

Later in 2005, the Committee will begin a full consensus project for consideration of all available measures in the Ambulatory Care priority areas. The Review Committee will become the Steering Committee, which is expected to meet several times over the course of the 2-3 year project. The Committee is comprised of individuals representing consumers, payors, academic centers, business coalitions, community health alliances and quality improvement organizations. The QIO community will also be represented on the committee by Alice Petrulis, MD of Ohio KePRO, who will serve as co-chair.

Ambulatory (outpatient) care is the most common health care interaction, with well over a billion visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments each year. Despite that, there are few standardized quality measures for the outpatient setting.

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About Delmarva Foundation
Delmarva Foundation is a national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare quality in over 20 states. Since 1973, Delmarva has assisted in improving care in hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, medical practices and health plans. Delmarva performs quality improvement, quality assurance, utilization review, external quality review and Program Safeguard activities. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Easton, Maryland with other offices in Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, DC; Columbia, South Carolina; Tampa, Florida; and Tallahassee, Florida. For more information, please visit Delmarva Foundation on the web at www.delmarvafoundation.org.