What Makes a Good Quality Measure?

In this issue of JAMA, reports on the relationship between clinical outcomes and quality measures by Neuman and colleagues¹ and Howell and colleagues² facilitate reflection on the attributes of good quality measures. These studies raise issues that are familiar to experts in quality measurement³ but may not be understood by physicians and others whose performance is being assessed. Although the reports present information on a variety of types of measures, this Editorial focuses on the clinical quality measures.