Maine Revised Statutes

1. Research dissemination.  The forum shall collect and disseminate research regarding health care quality, evidence-based medicine and patient safety to promote best practices.

2. Quality and performance measures.  The forum shall adopt a set of measures to evaluate and compare health care quality and provider performance. The measures must be adopted with guidance from the advisory council pursuant to section 6952. The quality measures adopted by the forum must be the basis for the rules for the collection of quality data adopted by the Maine Health Data Organization pursuant to Title 22, section 8708-A.

3. Data coordination.  The forum shall coordinate the collection of health care quality data in the State. The forum shall work with the Maine Health Data Organization and other entities that collect health care data to minimize duplication and to minimize the burden on providers of data.

4. Reporting.  The forum shall work collaboratively with the Maine Health Data Organization, health care providers, health insurance carriers and others to report in useable formats comparative health care quality information to consumers, purchasers, providers, insurers and policy makers. The forum shall produce annual quality reports in conjunction with the Maine Health Data Organization pursuant to Title 22, section 8712. No later than September 1, 2010, the forum shall make provider-specific information regarding quality of services available on its publicly accessible website.

5. Consumer education.  The forum shall conduct education campaigns to help health care consumers make informed decisions and engage in healthy lifestyles.

6. Technology assessment.  The forum shall conduct technology assessment reviews to guide the use and distribution of new technologies in this State. The forum shall make recommendations to the certificate of need program under Title 22, chapter 103-A.

7. Electronic data.  The forum shall encourage the adoption of electronic technology and assist health care practitioners to implement electronic systems for medical records and submission of claims. The assistance may include, but is not limited to, practitioner education, identification or establishment of low-interest financing options for hardware and software and system implementation support.

8. State health plan.  The forum shall make recommendations for inclusion in the State Health Plan described under Title 2, chapter 5, including recommendations based on the technology assessment reviews under subsection 6.

9. Annual report.  The forum shall make an annual report to the public. The forum shall provide the report to the joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over appropriations and financial affairs, health and human services matters and insurance and financial services matters.

10. Health care provider-specific data.  The forum shall submit to the Legislature, by January 30th each year beginning in 2009, a health care provider-specific performance report. The report must be based on health care quality data, including health care-associated infection quality data, that is submitted by providers to the Maine Health Data Organization pursuant to Title 22, section 8708-A. The forum and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall make the report available to the citizens of the State through a variety of means, including, but not limited to, the forum’s publicly accessible website and the distribution of written reports and publications.

11. Infection prevention activities.  The forum and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall, by January 30th of each year beginning in 2009, report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters on statewide collaborative efforts with health care infection control professionals in the State to control or prevent health care-associated infections.