Seizure Frequency Process and Outcome Quality Measures: Quality Improvement in Neurology.

Abstract

Seizure freedom is the goal for patients who experience seizures and the physicians and treatment teams who provide care for these patients. In 2017, the American Academy of Neurology Institute (AANI) seated a standing epilepsy quality measure development work group charged with developing appropriate quality improvement measures for patients with epilepsy who experience seizures. In 2018, the work group released an updated epilepsy quality measurement set that included the seizure frequency measure initially published in the 2014 measurement set.1,2 In the 2018 publication, the work group noted that future effort was needed to move toward a more standardized capture of seizure frequency.1 Specifically, a lack of uniformity and consistency in documentation of seizure frequency contributed to poor feasibility of the 2014 seizure frequency measure; this is also a barrier to uniform tracking of seizure frequency for seizure outcome measure collection.1 In spring 2019, the work group determined the time was ripe to move forward to develop quality measures that would help address the gap in measuring seizure frequency for patients with epilepsy and directly capture seizure outcome data.