title: Governing healthcare through performance measurement in Massachusetts and the Netherlands.
abstract: Massachusetts and the Netherlands have implemented comprehensive health reforms, which have heightened the importance of performance measurement. The performance measures addressing access to health care and patient experience are similar in the two jurisdictions, but measures of processes and outcomes of care differ considerably. In both jurisdictions, the use of health outcomes to compare the quality of health care organizations is limited, and specific information about costs is lacking. New legislation in both jurisdictions led to the establishment of public agencies to monitor the quality of care, similar mandates to make the performance of health care providers transparent, and to establish a shared responsibility of providers, consumers and insurers to improve the quality of health care. In Massachusetts a statewide mandatory quality measure set was established to monitor the quality of care. The Netherlands is stimulating development of performance measures by providers based on a mandatory framework for developing such measures. Both jurisdictions are expanding the use of patient-reported outcomes to support patient care, quality improvement, and performance comparisons with the aim of explicitly linking performance to new payment incentives.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: philip.vanderwees@radboudumc.nl.
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Van der Wees
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: ria.nijhuis-vandersanden@radboudumc.nl.
authors.forename: Maria W G
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Nijhuis-van der Sanden
authors.affiliation: Berlin University of Technology, Department of Health Care Management, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: ewout.vanginneken@tu-berlin.de.
authors.forename: Ewout
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van Ginneken
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, United States. Electronic address: ayanian@hcp.med.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: John Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Ayanian
authors.affiliation: RAND Boston, 20 Park Plaza, Suite 920, Boston, MA 02116, United States. Electronic address: eschneid@rand.org.
authors.forename: Eric C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: gert.westert@radboudumc.nl.
authors.forename: Gert P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Westert
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000458:organization & administration; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D062265:Health Insurance Exchanges / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D008404:Massachusetts; D009426:Netherlands; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration
keywords: Health care quality assessment; Health care reform; Quality indicators