NQF Drafts Voluntary Home Health Standards

The National Quality Forum (NQF), created by Congress to develop consensus standards for health care providers and systems, has issued a draft set of 28 “voluntary” standards for evaluating home health quality. The standards were developed through a steering committee appointed as part of the NQF's consensus development, and CMS expects the process to culminate in a definitive set of standards in early 2005. The 28 standards include, among others, improvement in ambulation/locomotion, improvement in bathing, improvement in transferring, and evaluation of pressure ulcers. The NQF defines “home health care” to include hospice, DME, respiratory therapy and infusion therapy.