Determining Measure Categories
| Measure Category | Process |
|---|---|
| Ratio | A ratio’s score is derived by dividing a count of one type of data by a count of another type of data (e.g., number of patients with central lines who develop infection divided by the number of central line days). In a ratio, the numerator and the denominator represent counts of different kinds of people, entities, events, or objects. |
| Proportion | A proportion is a score derived by dividing the number of cases that meet a criterion for quality (the numerator) by the number of eligible cases within a given time frame (the denominator) where the numerator cases are a subset of the denominator cases (e.g., percentage of eligible women with a mammogram performed in the last year). |
| Continuous Variable (CV) | A CV is a score in which the individual value for the measure can occur along a continuous scale and values can be aggregated using a variety of methods such as the calculation of a mean or median (e.g., mean number of minutes between the time when a patient presents with chest pain and the time of thrombolytic medications administration). |
| Categorical Value | A categorical value combines individual observations into distinct groups or categories without inherent numerical meaning or order. These values can be binary (e.g., yes/no) or qualitative (e.g., race, language, insurance type). |
| Count | A count represents the raw number of occurrences of an event or entity within a specified time frame or population. There is no denominator as it is a tally of all cases/events that meet a defined criterion (e.g., the number of emergency department visits in one month). |
| Composite scale | A composite scale is a method used to combine multiple related items (e.g., questions) from a tool or instrument into a single summary score (e.g., a pain scale that averages scores from multiple questions on a survey about pain severity and duration). |