November 19, 2001

Statement by AHQA Executive Vice President David Schulke on the HHS National Health Quality Improvement Initiative

AHQA believes that the new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) quality initiative will accelerate the pace of clinical quality improvement in America's health care system. The success of the Secretary's initiative appropriately relies on the expertise and commitment of AHQA's member Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs), a national network of private companies employing thousands of skilled physicians, nurses, analysts, and communications specialists-all dedicated to health care quality improvement.

As part of the initiative, CMS will publish quality data on health care providers, starting with nursing homes. Success relies on the ability of QIOs to help consumers use this information to make better choices based on the quality of nursing home services.

Equally important, the initiative depends on the proven ability of QIOs to help providers improve care. QIOs will provide data to nursing homes to help them assess the quality of their services compared to other local facilities and national standards. QIOs also will provide guidance on quality improvement techniques, as well as information on best practices of other providers. This kind of sharing dramatically speeds the adoption of quality-enhancing techniques, compared to what happens when providers are left entirely to their own devices to figure out what is wrong and what they can do about it.

The Secretary's decision to make quality information available to consumers may motivate many more nursing facilities to work closely with QIOs, further expediting the pace of improvement.

For the initiative to work, reporting to both consumers and providers of quality measures must be clear, credible, fair, and timely. An expert panel convened by the National Quality Forum recently recommended reporting to the public measures of nursing home quality, such as the use of restraints, weight loss, pressure sore prevalence, use of anti-psychotic drugs, decline of daily living functionality, pain management, and infection control. QIOs will help consumers understand these measures and will focus on problem areas identified by these indicators in their improvement projects with providers.

QIOs and nursing homes already are working collaboratively in 26 States. These projects are designed to help skilled nursing facilities improve end-of-life pain management, prevent and treat pressure sores, reduce falls, increase immunizations, and improve treatment for chronic diseases and conditions.