ST. LOUIS— The American Board of Optometry (ABO) has been accepted as a member of the National Quality Forum (NQF). As an accrediting body of optometric board certification, the ABO will be a member of the Quality Measurement, Research and Improvement (QMRI) Council of the NQF.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a nonprofit organization that operates under a three-part mission to improve the quality of American health care by building consensus on national priorities and goals for performance improvement, endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance and promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.

“The American Board of Optometry is honored to be part of an organization that has shown leadership on so many issues that are important to the profession of optometry,” said Barbara L. Reiss, OD, member of the ABO Board of Directors. “We will play an active role with the NQF, and at the same time glean information that will allow us to further improve our program, especially our forthcoming maintenance of certification.”

The NQF was created in 1999 by a coalition of public- and private-sector leaders in response to the recommendation of the Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. In its final report, published in 1998, the commission concluded that an organization like the NQF was needed to promote and ensure patient protections and health care quality through measurement and public reporting.

In January 2009, the NQF entered into a contract with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to help establish a portfolio of quality and efficiency measures for use in reporting on and improving health care quality. These measures will allow the federal government to more clearly see how to assess whether health care spending is achieving the best results for patients and taxpayers. The contract is part of a provision in the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.

The ABO joins the American Optometric Association as the only other optometry organization with NQF membership. The AOA is a member of the NQF’s Health Professional Council.