Most standard quality measures in use today are not designed for—or even tested among—older adults; and most are overwhelmingly disease-specific. For the typical older adult with several chronic conditions, meeting standard “quality” metrics can be harmful and fail to make meeting the person’s and family’s goals and preferences the sine qua non of quality.

As pressure mounts to ensure that Medicare and others are paying for value, there has been a marked increase in the use of quality measures to help providers improve health outcomes while reducing the exorbitantly high costs of care. It is therefore essential that appropriate quality measures drive the provision of comprehensive, person-centered, and geriatrically expert care, rather than inadvertently encourage providers to offer what could actually be inappropriate or limited care. There is a clear need to create new measures and goals that reflect this definition of quality care.

Through this new portfolio, the Foundation will:

• Support the development of quality measures that reflect the outcomes that are important to older patients and their families;
• Help spread information technology tools that assist health professionals in delivering high-quality care to older adults; and
• Promote the adoption of standards of care appropriate for older, vulnerable adults with multiple chronic conditions.

By providing improved feedback on quality and clinical indicators to providers and health care organizations, quality measurement and information technology tools can directly drive improvements in clinical practice and patient outcomes. These measures and tools can enable health care stakeholders to benchmark themselves against peers, identify poor-performing units or practices, prioritize interventions, and track the progress of quality improvement initiatives.

Ultimately, we hope this work will improve the infrastructure for the delivery of quality care and support a truly team-based approach to health care delivery for older adults.