Primary Care Practices’ Ability to Report Electronic Clinical Quality Measures in the EvidenceNOW Southwest Initiative to Improve Heart Health

Key Points Question How quickly can primary care practices report electronic clinical quality measures based on evidence-based guidelines for cardiac care? Findings In this quality improvement study of 211 primary care practices, the median time to report any baseline electronic clinical quality measure was 8.2 months. Time to report varied by measure type and practice characteristics. Meaning This study suggests that clinical quality measure reporting still takes a great deal of time and effort, and as the health care system increasingly moves to value-based structures that require electronic clinical quality measures, some practices may be left behind without better incentives and support.