ACR hopes new quality metric could boost lung cancer screening rates to 70%
Radiology advocates are optimistic a proposed health plan quality metric could help increase lung cancer screening uptake.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance is taking public comment on a new measure, titled Tobacco Use Screening and Cessation Intervention. As part of the NCQA’s metrics to compare health insurance plan performance, the committee wants to track the number of beneficiaries screened for smoking who receive help quitting afterward.
“Tobacco use among adolescents and adults is widespread in the U.S. and causes severe morbidity and mortality,” the nonprofit health plan accreditation organization said in a Feb. 13 request for comment. “Appropriate screening for tobacco use and cessation intervention has been shown to reduce tobacco use and improve health outcomes.”
The American College of Radiology noted Monday that the proposal “would enable positive health plan performance on a lung cancer screening uptake” measure, should NCQA decide to adopt one. Smoking pack-years is a crucial criterion for low-dose CT lung cancer screening eligibility, ACR added. However, “the lack of reliable information has been a primary hindrance to efficiently identifying individuals eligible for this lifesaving screening.”
“Improved documentation will help accelerate lung cancer screening (LCS) rates, which presently stand at just under 20%,” ACR said in a Feb. 17 news update. “We are hopeful that if adopted, this new HEDIS [Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set] measure will help increase LCS rates closer to the 70% of other cancer screening tests,” the college added later.
HCQA is accepting comments on the measure until 5 p.m. Eastern Time on March 13. The committee noted that over 235 million people are currently enrolled in health plans that report HEDIS results. Other new proposed measures will track follow-up treatment after an acute care visit for asthma, while a second will chart the disability status of plan members. If finalized, they’ll take effect in the 2026 measurement year.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.