This is the title of my recent commentary in the Journal of Clinical Pathways. The article discusses a number of challenges of measuring quality of care in oncology:
The challenges mentioned included: the long time-lag to develop new guidelines and then incorporate these into validated quality measures, the potential narrow populations to which guidelines would be applied in a world of precision medicine, the need to use real-world data to better extrapolate clinical trials into the real world, and better incorporating patient preferences into decision-making. All of these challenges are real.
In this commentary, however, I will ask a more fundamental question: is the quality measurement race worth running? In other words, is it worth continually updating quality measures in such a disease area where innovation moves so fast? Before answering this question, measure developers should consider at least three key factors.
To find out the three factors I highlight and what we should do about them, do read the whole article here.