Identifying Core Clinical Topics and Recommending Core Performance Measures for Internal Medicine Physicians: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians.
Publication/Presentation Date
11-1-2025
Abstract
Internal medicine physicians are specialists who promote health, emphasize disease prevention, manage complex acute and chronic conditions in adults, and receive extensive training in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting all systems of the human body. As a result, internal medicine performance measures (PMs) target several topics. Many PMs are not based on high-certainty evidence of at least moderate net benefit and are burdensome, with low or no value to patient care. The American College of Physicians (ACP) wants to provide a national focus to improve the quality of health care in the United States. The ACP is a leader in the evidence-based world, being the only physician organization designated as a GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) Center, an Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) Center, and a member of the Cochrane U.S. Network. Using a structured, stepwise, evidence-based approach, ACP identified the most important clinical topics evaluated and treated by internal medicine physicians. The ACP is also actively working toward recommending essential PMs for each core clinical topic that can be used to evaluate and improve patient care. This position paper describes ACP's method and results of identifying core clinical topics. It also offers a blueprint for defining core PMs and illustrating the principals through application to 2 core clinical topics. The ACP plans to apply this method on PMs for other core clinical topics.
Volume
178
Issue
11
First Page
1616
Last Page
1623
ISSN
1539-3704
Published In/Presented At
Qaseem, A., Fitterman, N., Tierney, S., Powell, R. E., Campos, K., Choi, E. I., Crandall, C. J., Cross, J. T., Jr, Humphrey, L. L., Obley, A. J., Wilt, T. J., Andrews, R. A., Performance Measurement Committee and the Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians, Basch, P., Khetan, R. S., MacDonald, S. T., Miller, N. L., Mount, C. A., Watts, B., Balk, E. M., … Shamliyan, T. (2025). Identifying Core Clinical Topics and Recommending Core Performance Measures for Internal Medicine Physicians: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians. Annals of internal medicine, 178(11), 1616–1623. https://doi.org/10.7326/ANNALS-25-00874
Disciplines
Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Health and Medical Administration | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods
PubMedID
40953445
Department(s)
Administration and Leadership
Document Type
Article