The CMS on Thursday released a list of 32 reporting measures under consideration for Medicare’s quality reporting and value-based purchasing programs.

The number of measures under review is much smaller compared to last year when CMS considered nearly 100 measures. The move is in line with CMS Administrator Seema Verma’s focus on reducing regulatory burden for providers. The agency recently launched the Meaningful Measures initiative to identify measures that will have the greatest impact on quality care improvement.

This year, CMS selected 32 measures for consideration out of a pool of 184 submitted by stakeholders. About 40% of measures on the list are outcome measures, which quality experts say are most valuable to patients and need more development.

Some of the measures focus on functional status changes after surgery and diabetes control.

The CMS publishes a list each year of quality and cost measures for consideration and works with the National Quality Forum to get input from patients, clinicians, commercial payers and purchasers, on the most suitable measures.

The NQF’s Measure Applications Partnership will present its recommendations to the CMS by Feb. 8.

In March, NQF made the unusual decision to suggest to the federal government remove 51 of 240 measures in an attempt to remove measures that no longer have value for patients or providers.

“NQF is committed to meaningful measures that focus on outcomes and aspects of care that are most important to patients, while also identifying leading measure gaps that must be addressed to achieve the nation’s healthcare priorities,” Shantanu Agrawal, president and CEO of NQF, said in a statement.