Which category does the Quality Payment Program NOT include in its performance evaluation?

The Quality Payment Program (QPP) is designed to promote high-quality care and to reward providers for the value of care they deliver rather than the volume. It primarily evaluates performance across several categories, which include Cost, Quality, and Improvement Activities.

Cost measures assess the efficiency of care provided and how it influences overall healthcare spending in relation to quality. The Quality category focuses on various clinical measures that gauge patient care outcomes. Improvement Activities consist of activities that healthcare providers engage in to improve care quality and health outcomes.

Access to care is not a defined category in the current structure of the Quality Payment Program, which focuses instead on quantifiable metrics in the other major areas. Thus, identifying "Access to care" as the performance evaluation category that the program does not include is correct since it does not explicitly measure or incentivize providers based on access, despite its significance in overall healthcare delivery.