The Washington D.C-based National Quality Forum (NQF) is endorsing four use measures on healthcare resource use and costs. The measures, which focus on diabetes and cardiovascular care costs as well as total primary-care costs, can provide vital data on how resources are used in these areas of care says NQF. The data, the organization claims, will help create a more efficient, less wasteful healthcare system.

NQF says this was their first effort at endorsing measures that evaluate how resources are used in care delivery, as a result of keen interest from government and private payers. Several provisions, the organization says, in recent policy require use of resource data over the next several years to support efforts to move toward a value-based purchasing payment model, and private payers have been utilizing these types of measures for several years.

"We have an opportunity to create a higher-quality, lower-cost healthcare system; resource use measures can provide a more granular, detailed picture of what is driving costs and help providers more effectively manage cost and healthcare quality,” Janet Corrigan, president and CEO of NQF, said in a statement.