Adult Health Care Quality Measures

The Affordable Care Act (Section 1139B) requires the Secretary of HHS to identify and publish a core set of health care quality measures for adult Medicaid enrollees.

• 2019 Adult Core Set
• Annual Reporting on the Quality of Care for Adults Enrolled in Medicaid
• State Reporting Resources & Technical Assistance
• Adult Medicaid Quality Measurement Program

2019 Adult Core Set 

The 2019 Adult Core Set was released in a November 2018 Informational Bulletin. Section 1139B of the Social Security Act, as amended by Section 2701 of the Affordable Care Act, notes that the Secretary shall issue updates to the Adult Core Set beginning in January 2014 and annually thereafter. CMS worked with the National Quality Forum's (NQF) Measures Application Partnership (MAP) to review the Adult Core Set and to identify ways to improve it. A background report contains information on the MAP's review process, selection criteria, and feedback to CMS.

The Adult Core Set includes several measures focused on behavioral health. These along with similarly focused measures from the Child Core Set have been identified as a Behavioral Health Core Set. Similarly, measures from the Adult and Child Core Sets’ focused on maternal and perinatal health have been identified as a Core Set of Maternal and Perinatal Health Measures for Medicaid and CHIP (Maternity Core Set). For the 2018 Adult Core Set measure list, please email MACQualityTA@cms.hhs.gov.

State data derived from the core measures are part of CMS’s annual Child and Adult Core Set measure reporting, which includes publication of chart packs and datasets that highlight publicly reportable measures.

Annual Reporting on the Quality of Health Care for Adults Enrolled in Medicaid

CMS annually releases information on state progress in reporting the Adult Core Set measures and assesses state-specific performance for measures that are reported by at least 25 states and which met internal standards of data quality. Information about performance on frequently-reported health care quality measures in the Adult Core Set is provided below, in addition state-specific quality information can also be viewed in the Quality of Care section of the State Medicaid & CHIP Profiles web page.

• 2019 Annual Reporting on the Quality of Care for Adults in Medicaid (FFY 2018)
• Overview of Child and Adult Core Set Reporting for FFY 2018 (September 2019)
• 2019 Adult Core Set Chart Pack, FFY 2018 (September 2019)
• Performance on the Adult Core Set Measures, FFY 2018 (September 2019)
• Adult Health Quality Measures Dataset, FFY 2018 (September 2019)
• 2018 Annual Reporting on the Quality of Care for Adults in Medicaid (FFY 2017)
  • Overview of Child and Adult Core Set Reporting for FFY 2017 (December 2018)
  • 2018 Adult Core Set Chart Pack, FFY 2017 (December 2018)
  • Performance on the Adult Core Set Measures, FFY 2017 (December 2018)
  • Adult Health Quality Measures Dataset, FFY 2017 (December 2018)
• 2017 Annual Reporting on the Quality of Care for Adults in Medicaid (FFY 2016)
  • Overview of Child and Adult Core Set Reporting for FFY 2016
  • 2017 Adult Core Set Chart Pack, FFY 2016
  • Performance on the Adult Core Set Measures, FFY 2016
  • Adult Health Quality Measures Dataset, FFY 2016 (updated 10/30/2017)
• 2016 Annual Reporting on the Quality of Care for Adults in Medicaid (FFY 2015)
  • 2016 Adult Core Set Chart Pack, FFY 2015
  • Performance on the Adult Core Set Measures, FFY 2015
  • Adult Health Quality Measures Dataset, FFY 2015
• 2015 Annual Reporting on the Quality of Care for Adults in Medicaid
  • Overview of the Adult Core Set Measures, FFY 2014
  • Performance on the Adult Core Set Measures, FFY 2014
  • Adult Findings from EQR Reports Submitted During the 2014-2015 Reporting Cycle
  • 2015 Domain-Specific Reports
  • 2015 Adult Core Set Chart Pack (FFY 2014)
  • FFY 2014 Adult Health Quality Measures Dataset
• 2014 Annual Reporting on the Quality of Health Care for Adults Enrolled in Medicaid
  • Findings from EQR Reports Submitted During the 2013-2014 Reporting Cycle

Adult Medicaid Quality Measurement Program

By January 1, 2013, a Medicaid Quality Measurement Program will be established to fund the development, testing, and validation of emerging and innovative evidence-based adult health quality measures. As specified in the legislation, this program is to be established in the same manner as the Pediatric Quality Measures Program.