Comparison of Approaches for Aggregating Quality Measures in Population‐based Payment Models

Objective

To assess the impact of alternative methods of aggregating individual quality measures on Accountable Care Organization () overall scores.

Data Source

2014 quality scores for Medicare s.

Study Design

We compare overall scores derived using ’ aggregation approach to those derived using alternative approaches to grouping and weighting measures.

Principal Findings

Alternative grouping and weighting methods based on statistical criteria produced overall quality scores similar to those produced using ’ approach (= 0.80 to 0.95). Scores derived from giving specific domains greater weight were less similar (= 0.51 to 0.93).

Conclusions

How measures are grouped into domains and how these domains are weighted to generate overall scores can have important implications for 's shared savings payments.