Dental News - Dental Quality Alliance approves initial set of performance measures

Dental Tribune USA

Fri. 27 September 2013

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NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: The Dental Quality Alliance (DQA), comprising multiple stakeholders from across the oral health community, has released its first set of performance measures for oral health care, “Dental Caries in Children: Prevention and Disease Management.” The set includes 10 tested and validated performance measures in oral health care.

The performance measures are: use of services; preventive services; treatment services; oral evaluation; topical fluoride intensity; sealant use in 6-9 years; sealant use in 10-14 years; care continuity; usual source of services; and per-member per-month cost.

The DQA was established by the American Dental Association to develop performance measures for oral health care. “Since its formation in 2008, the DQA has worked tirelessly at developing these consensus-based quality measures,” said Dr. David May, chairman of the ADA Council on Dental Benefit Programs.

The DQA collaborated with the University of Florida Institute for Child Health Policy to evaluate and test the feasibility, validity, reliability and usability of each measure before issuing final approval. The data used to craft the measures came from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, Florida Healthy Kids Corporation, Texas Health and Human Services Commission and DentaQuest.

The testing was, in part, funded through a grant from the American Dental Association Foundation.

“The ADA Foundation is very proud to be part of this significant effort to develop the first fully validated set of performance measures for dentistry,” said Dr. David Whiston, ADA Foundation president. “We believe it is consistent with our mission to help advance the quality of care for the good of patients.”

“As the only comprehensive multi-stakeholder collaborative,” May said, “the DQA is well-positioned to collaborate, coordinate and lead in measure development in dentistry through its members’ experience, expertise and support.”

To learn more about the DQA, visit www.ada.org.

(Sources: American Dental Association and the ADA Foundation)

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