PHILADELPHIA, May 6, 2025 – A review by the American College of Physicians (ACP) of performance measures for diabetes found that of the 14 performance measures relevant to internal medicine, only four meet ACP’s rigorous standards for appropriate use, high-quality evidence, and scientific acceptability. Quality Indicators for Diabetes in Adults: A Review of Performance Measures by the American College of Physicians was published today in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States. Type 1 and type 2 diabetes are prevalent chronic illnesses, are leading causes of mortality and morbidity, and result in substantial public health burden. Timely identification and appropriate management of diabetes can help reduce adverse consequences of diabetes. Several performance measures for diabetes are currently in use in public reporting and accountability programs.
The ACP Performance Measurement Committee (PMC) reviews performance measures using a rigorous process to recognize high-quality measures and address gaps and areas for improvement. ACP embraces performance measurement as a means to improve quality of care but believes that a performance measure must be methodologically sound and evidence based in order to be considered for inclusion in payment, accountability, or reporting programs. The PMC reviewed measures for diabetes screening; glycemic control; and monitoring comorbidities. In the paper, ACP supports kidney health evaluation, HbA1c control, eye examination, and ACE inhibitor or ARB therapy.
ACP also developed a new performance measure concept with a goal of increasing prescription rates for patients eligible for newer pharmacologic agents. Together, these recommendations aim to encourage implementers and developers to establish and test performance measures that will lead to improvement in health outcomes for patients with diabetes.
“Performance measurement is a means by which we look to improve the quality of care for our patients as internal medicine physicians,” said Jason M. Goldman, President, ACP. “This review will prove valuable to practicing physicians and the medical community, as measures that provide minimal or no value to patient care, add an administrative burden to practices and systems of collecting and reporting data. Our time can be better spent on meaningful measures that help our patients.”
In 2024, ACP published a clinical guideline, Newer Pharmacologic Treatments in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Clinical Guideline From the American College of Physicians to provide clinical recommendations on the topic.
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About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 172 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 161,000 internal medicine physicians, related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Contact: Laura Baldwin, 215 351 2668, lbaldwin@acponline.org