Glossary

An access measure is a measure focusing on a patient’s or enrollee’s attainment of timely and appropriate health care.

An adopted measure is a measure with the same numerator, denominator, and data source as an existing measure, but added to another quality program. The only additional information the measure developer needs to provide is particular to the measure’s implementation use (such as data submission instructions). An example of an adopted measure would be an ambulatory program adopting the core hypertension measure, Controlling High Blood Pressure (CMIT Measure ID 167) (CMS CBE 0018).

Alignment, with respect to quality measures, is encouraging the use of similar, standardized quality measures across and within public and private sector efforts. Achievement of alignment is when a set of measures works well across care settings or programs to produce meaningful information without creating extra work for measured entities. Alignment includes using the same quality measures in multiple programs when possible. It can also come from consistently measuring important topics across care settings.

An ANOVA is a statistical test used to analyze the difference between the means of three or more groups. ANOVA can be one-way (one independent variable) or two-way (two independent variables). Bevans, R. (2023, June 22). One-way ANOVA. When and how to use it (with examples). Scribbr. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/statistics/one-way-anova/#:~:text=ANOVA%2C%20wh…;

The appropriate use criteria are evidence-based standards to assist professionals who order and furnish applicable services to make the most appropriate treatment decisions for a specific clinical condition. See the CMS Appropriate Use Criteria Program.

Attribution is the action of linking the treatments, processes, or outcomes of health care to one or more measured entity.

An audit is a systematic inspection of records or accounts to verify their accuracy.