HEDIS: implementation issues.

Historically, employers have asked health plans to measure performance in terms of quality, utilization, satisfaction, and cost. As organizations collected these data, employers realized that rarely were all the data comparable. Several employers, such as Xerox Corporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Bull HN Information Systems, Inc., agreed to work together to create reporting criteria that would standardize measurement. This collaboration resulted in the Health Plan Employer Data Information Set (HEDIS) criteria. This article reviews some of the implementation issues and decisions that a plan must resolve to gather accurate HEDIS data.