Modifications are being made to the Kentucky Core Healthcare Measures Set (KCHMS), and healthcare stakeholders throughout the Commonwealth are invited and encouraged to review and comment on those submissions during a public comment period that will run through June 10.
The core measures set was first developed and released in 2018 through a public-private partnership with the goal of creating a core measures set for Kentucky stakeholders to align to. The second iteration of the KCHMS, released in 2019 includes 38 unique measures, focused in the areas of prevention, pediatrics, behavioral health, chronic and acute care management, and cost/utilization/experience.
This year’s update will ensure that the measures on the core measures set are current, relevant, and sound. The KCHMS Oversight Committee and its subcommittees have spent the last months reviewing the current measures set, examining potential measures for addition, and confirming or questioning the current measures’ relevance.
Last week, the subcommittees presented their final recommendations to the Oversight Committee, which will finalize the KCHMS measures in June.
If all recommendations are accepted, the core measures set will increase from 38 measures to 42. Measures that would be added include asthma medication ratio, concurrent opioids and benzodiazepines prescribing, utilization of mental health services, total cost and resource use measure, follow-up CT imaging, and avoidance of chronic disease complications. Measures related to contraceptive care, diabetes foot exams and adolescent tobacco screening would be removed.
Any healthcare stakeholder is invited to provide feedback for the KCHMS Oversight Committee on these recommendations. A public comment call with a more detailed overview of the proposed changes and a Q&A/feedback session will be held on May 20. Click here to register.
The public comment period will close June 10, and you can find details on the proposed changes and fill out the public comment form here.
