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Hospital
Quality Measurement and Public Reporting Initiative Statement by AHQA Executive
Vice President David Schulke
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December
12, 2002
For Immediate Release
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Contact:
Richard Deutsch
202-331-5790 Ext. 313 |
The
national network of Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) fully supports
the initiative announced today by the American Hospital Association, the Federation
of American Hospitals, and the Association of American Medical Colleges, with
support from JCAHO, CMS, AHRQ, and the National Quality Forum.
This
initiative puts leaders of the medical community, medical educators, the federal
government, and the nation’s largest accrediting organization on the same path
to improving critical areas of care through voluntary public reporting of hospital
performance data. We look forward to expansion of this effort—as called for in
the agreement—to cover a far broader range of treatment areas. We are also encouraged
by the commitment of these organizations to make the data increasingly understandable
and accessible to the public.
The
initiative announced today is fundamentally compatible with the QIO mission of
improving systems of care by measuring quality and encouraging adoption of proven
"best" clinical practices.
However,
QIO support for this initiative goes beyond public endorsement. Over the next
three years, under contract to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
at HHS, QIOs nationwide will:
- Help
hospitals develop the capacity to collect and report quality performance data.
- Assist
hospitals and physicians in using performance data to identify opportunities for
improvement and then improving systems of care, so every patient reliably gets
top quality service.
To
lay the groundwork for success on a national level, CMS has asked QIOs in Arizona,
Maryland, and New York to launch a two-year pilot project to work with hospitals
to test a broader set of standardized performance measures and to develop a consumer-friendly,
web-based display of performance data.
QIOs
in these three states will also work with consumers to test methods for helping
the public effectively use information on the quality of hospital care. In addition,
pilot-state QIOs will work with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
to develop and test a standardized survey instrument to measure patient satisfaction
with hospital care (the Hospital Patient Experience of Care Survey).
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