New Quality Measures for Distal Symmetric Neuropathy Care

Peter James Dyck, MD

How useful are new quality measures likely to be?

In a special article, a committee of experts reports American Academy of Neurology measures of quality of healthcare in distal symmetric polyneuropathy (DSP). The six measures came from a systematic review of the medical literature and a consensus process.

The authors note that “Measuring quality of health care is a central part of current concepts of health care plans and physician reimbursement.” My paraphrase of these measures is as follows:

• The percentage of DSP patients who had their specific signs and symptoms documented in the initial evaluation (The report lists specific symptoms and signs.),
• The percentage who had electrodiagnostic studies “conducted, documented and reviewed” within 6 months of their evaluation,
• The percentage who had been screened for diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired glucose tolerance,
• The percentage screened for abnormal alcohol use,
• The percentage queried about pain, and
• The percentage queried annually about number of falls.

Citation(s):

England JD et al. Quality improvement in neurology: Distal symmetric polyneuropathy quality measures. Neurology 2014 Apr 2; [e-pub ahead of print].