NCQA proposes spine care recognition program


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May 2006

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) unveiled proposed measures for its new Spine Care Recognition Program. The program promotes excellence in treating back pain by recognizing physicians and chiropractors who deliver high-quality, evidence-based care, and provide patients with a clear understanding of appropriate treatment options. The measures will be available for public comment through June 2.

The program’s measures assess whether physicians and chiropractors:

Thoroughly review their patients’ history of back pain symptoms, and their response to therapy;
Advise their patients to resume normal daily activities within three to four days;
Recommend exercise after the first six weeks of an episode;
Review the risks and benefits of treatment options with their patients;
Avoid costly interventions that, in the absence of certain defined conditions, have not been shown to improve patient outcomes, such as MRIs or surgery, during the first six weeks of an episode;
Attempt a course of non-invasive treatment before recommending surgery, except under certain circumstances where surgery is indicated; and
Avoid repeat imaging.

Draft measures are available at NCQA’s Web site, www.ncqa.org. Interested parties are invited to comment on the measures through June 2. Final measures and scoring for the program will be released after completion of the public comment period and pilot testing.

Source: National Committee for Quality Assurance, www.ncqa.org

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