New ACP paper calls for appropriate, meaningful performance measures to evaluate telemedicine
The position paper recommends that any performance measure used to evaluate telemedicine visits should adhere to the same criteria as in-person visits.
A new position paper published in Annals of Internal Medicine, “Performance Measures for Physicians Providing Clinical Care Using Telemedicine,” presents six recommendations from ACP to ensure the appropriate use of performance measures to evaluate quality of clinical care provided in the telemedicine environment.
The paper focuses on telemedicine services provided in an ambulatory care environment, including via interactive audio and video telecommunications systems. Among other guidance, ACP recommends that any performance measure used to evaluate telemedicine visits should adhere to the same criteria as in-person visits. ACP also recommends that performance measures be evaluated to determine whether care delivered in a telemedicine setting should be included in the specifications, with careful consideration of how this might impact measure actionability or lead to unintended consequences.
Other recommendations include that physicians, and their information systems, have access to information generated at a telemedicine visit before a performance measure is used to evaluate quality of care; that performance measure testing be conducted for a measure deemed appropriate to evaluate quality of care provided by a physician at a telemedicine visit; that telemedicine visits be incorporated into measure attribution logic; and that performance measures used to evaluate quality of care provided by a physician at a telemedicine visit should not marginalize underresourced communities already affected by the “digital divide.”