ACCF/AHA/ACR/SCAI/SIR/SVM/SVN/SVS 2010 performance measures for adults with peripheral artery disease: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Performance Measures, the American College of Radiology, the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions, the Society for Interventional Radiology, the Society for Vascular Medicine, the Society for Vascular Nursing, and the Society for Vascular Surgery (Writing Committee to Develop Clinical

• Published in: Journal of vascular nursing 2011-03, Vol.29 (1), p.23-60
• Main Authors: Olin, Jeffrey W, Allie, David E, Belkin, Michael, Bonow, Robert O, Casey, Donald E, Creager, Mark A, Gerber, Thomas C, Hirsch, Alan T, Jaff, Michael R, Kaufman, John A, Lewis, Curtis A, Martin, Edward T, Martin, Louis G, Sheehan, Peter, Stewart, Kerry J, Treat-Jacobson, Diane, White, Christopher J, Zheng, Zhi-Jie, Masoudi, Frederick A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiology; Cardiovascular diseases; Health care; Quality of care; Task forces
• ISSN: 1062-0303
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvn.2010.11.002

Over the past decade, there has been an increasing awareness that the quality of medical care delivered in the United States is variable. In its seminal document dedicated to characterizing deficiencies in delivering effective, timely, safe, equitable, efficient, and patient-centered medical care, the Institute of Medicine described a quality chasm.1 Recognition of the magnitude of the gap between the care that is delivered and the care that ought to be provided has stimulated interest in the development of measures of quality of care and the use of such measures for the purposes of quality improvement and accountability. Consistent with this national focus on healthcare quality, the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have taken a leadership role in developing measures of the quality of care for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in several clinical areas (Table 1). The ACCF/AHA Task Force on Performance Measures was formed in February 2000 and was charged with identifying the clinical topics appropriate for the development of performance measures and with assembling writing committees composed of clinical and methodological experts. When appropriate, these committees have included representation from other organizations involved in the care of patients with the condition of focus. The committees are informed about the methodology of performance measure development and are instructed to construct measures for use both prospectively and retrospectively, to rely upon easily documented clinical criteria, and where appropriate, to incorporate administrative data. The data elements required for the performance measures are linked to existing ACCF/AHA clinical data standards to encourage uniform measurements of cardiovascular care. The writing committees are also instructed to evaluate the extent to which existing nationally recognized performance measures conform to the attributes of performance measures described by the ACCF/AHA and to strive to create measures aligned with acceptable existing measures when this is feasible. [Copyright Elsevier B.V.]