For example, one quality measure endorsed by the NQF is documentation of an advance care plan or surrogate decision maker in the medical record for patients aged ≥65 years, or documentation that an advance care plan was discussed but the patient did not wish or was not able to name a surrogate decision maker or provide an advance care plan. The rationale for this measure is that approximately 30% of deaths among older adults are preceded by a need for surrogate decision making, and patients who have prepared an advance directive are very likely to receive preference-concordant care (35). A preliminary report of the Medicare ESRD Disease Management Demonstration Project indicated that rates of advance care planning can be increased through targeted efforts (36). Surveys of patients with ESRD suggest that initiatives to improve advance care planning would address a high-priority unmet need (37). Once sufficient data are accumulated on national performance, the measure could be converted from a reporting measure to a clinical target.
Inclusion of standardized hospitalization ratios, the number of observed versus expected hospital admissions for patients under the care of a specific dialysis facility based on each facility’s patient characteristics, is reportedly under consideration for future years in the QIP (38). Given the evidence that palliative care reduces the utilization of acute care (39–41), this measure, or related measures such as readmission rates would indirectly support the goal of promoting palliative care. It is also important to consider the unintended consequences that future QIP measures might have on the provision of palliative care. For example, it would seem appropriate to exclude patients who receive concurrent hospice care when assessing attainment of dialysis specific performance measures.