Volunteer Opportunities 2008

Quality Improvement Committee

The Quality Improvement Committee is new for 2008. The committee's goal is to oversee the work of project-specific subcommittees. Members of the Quality Improvement Committee also must commit to serve, or to designate another person from the same company to serve, on one of the project subcommittees. The Quality Improvement Committee will meet every other month and the project-specific subcommittees will meet monthly, with individual work assigned between meetings. Project Subcommittees include:

• Quality Information and Tools
  The Quality Information and Tools subcommittee will focus on identifying and overseeing the development of tools that could be used to enhance the distribution of quality initiatives in the industry. Initial suggestions for this group include the development of a quality information Web page linked to the DMAA site that could include abstracts of quality programs in the industry.
• Collaboration Development
  DMAA actively seeks collaborations in many areas of its research and policy agenda. The Collaboration Development Subcommittee will focus its efforts on identifying collaborators for Quality Improvement, as well as specific areas of mutual interest.
• Quality Awards
  The Quality Awards Subcommittee will develop all the components necessary for an awards program to highlight quality improvement efforts in the industry. Areas to be developed include award specifications, logistics and a communications plan.

Outcomes Measurement and Methodology Committee

The Outcomes Measurement and Methodology Committee will continue the work of the Outcomes Steering Committee. The goal of the Committee is to oversee area-specific work groups developing recommendations for the DMAA Outcomes Guidelines. Members of the Outcomes Measurement and Methodology Committee also must commit to serve, or to designate another person from the same company to serve, on one of the area-specific work groups. The Committee will present a full set of Outcomes Guidelines recommendations to the DMAA Board of Directors in August, followed by publication of the report to be released at the 2008 DMAA annual meeting. The full committee will meet face-to-face in April and July and via conference call in January. Area-specific work groups will meet monthly or more often, depending on group input. Area-specific work groups include:

• Selection Criteria
  Develop selection criteria based on the guiding principal developed in 2007. Criteria will address both clinical exclusions as recommended in 2006, as well as participants with multiple chronic conditions. A core algorithm will be developed to apply across conditions. But, where necessary, additions will be made to accommodate condition-specific issues.
• Operational Measures
  Continue to work with URAC to develop operational definitions and measures for the initial framework approved by the DMAA Outcomes Steering Committee. The approved Operational Metric Framework includes:
  • Enrollment
  • Intensity of contact
  • Depth of outreach
  • Engagement (different from enrollment)
• Methodology
  Refine and expand the methodology work to possibly include:
  • Additions to the small population recommendation
  • Expansion of the method recommendations for possible application to programs targeting diseases other than the five chronics currently addressed by the Guidelines.
  • While DMAA actively pursues standardized methodologies for measuring financial impact of individual disease management programs, for various reasons, these methodologies are not yet ready for use in assessing comparative performance across multiple programs. In particular, while the standard methods are much clearer after two years of work by DMAA, there is not yet a detailed, proscribed method for execution, much less specific strategies for ensuring data quality and consistency. A number of complex decisions need to be made about how to account for baseline population differences and how to detail specificities of methods without imposing program scope and intervention.
• Wellness
  Continue the work in the wellness area to include:
  • Expansion of ongoing work focused on presenteeism, to include a survey matrix that offers information on tools available to measure this concept.
  • Development of measures of impact addressed in the model released in Volume II.
  • Development of a methodology to implement an evaluation of a wellness program.
• Financial
  Refine and expand the financial work to possibly include:
  • Further refinement of the recommended utilization measures.
  • Expansion of the risk adjustment recommendation, to include examples to illustrate the principles outlines in the recommendation.
  • Development of financial impact measures for wellness programs.
  • Refinement of the current financial guidelines for application beyond single conditions to multiple discrete conditions, as well as full population-based programs.
• Clinical Performance Measures
  Continue to work with the National Committee for Quality Assurance on development of measures identified for the upcoming year.
• Comparative Performance
  Review work to-date and begin to develop a framework for how the current guidelines could be modified for the purpose of comparative performance.

Obesity with Co-Morbidities Subcommittee

The Obesity with Co-Morbidities Subcommittee works on a variety of ongoing projects, including publication, a comprehensive obesity literature review, an obesity Web page and an obesity summit. The subcommittee meets monthly and reviews work with an Obesity Steering Committee twice a year.

How to Volunteer

All DMAA members are welcome to participate on any committee, subcommittee or work group. If you are interested in volunteering for a group or have questions, please contact DMAA Research and Quality Vice President Jeanette May at (202) 365-4161 or jmay@dmaa.org. Please respond no later then Nov. 13.