Quality measures for oncologic emergency medicine

Cancer patients experience a number of quality of care issues in the emergency department (ED) and in other healthcare settings. Routine measurement and public reporting of the outcomes, processes, and structure of care has been recommended as an important policy lever to increase provider accountability and, ultimately, improve the quality of care. However, quality measure development for oncologic emergency medicine has lagged behind other conditions and care delivery settings for more than a decade. Thus, ED-based oncology care is largely excluded from the current national quality reporting programs. To address this gap, we advocate the implementation of a national quality reporting program for cancer care, in harmony with recent recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. With formal national leadership, adequate funding, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and a robust and transparent health information technology infrastructure, this program could do much to increase the transparency and quality of oncologic emergency medicine across the nation.