Quality Reporting Measures

NQF Elects Member Council Leaders

December 12, 2012     John DeGaspari
news
The Washington, D.C.-based National Quality Forum (NQF) has elected new leadership across four of its member councils: the Consumers Council, the Health Plan Council, the Purchaser Council, and the Supplier-Industry Council.

A Disconnect Between Performance Improvement and Improved Readmissions Results: What’s Going On?

December 12, 2012     Mark Hagland
blog
As the healthcare industry moves forward to meet the demands of purchasers and payers for higher-quality, more effective, more cost-effective patient care with fewer errors and better care coordination, it is sobering to read the results of recent studies that show that improving clinical performance does not necessarily lead to the prevention of avoidable readmissions.

Foundation Announces $200,000 Healthcare Gamification Challenge

December 5, 2012     Gabriel Perna
news
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has announced a $200,000 challenge for developers to create game applications that help generate “useful” healthcare quality data, the organization announced this week. This is the foundation’s second major competition in its Aligning Forces initiative for Quality (AF4Q), an initiative to improve the quality of healthcare in various targeted communities across the country, while providing models of reform.

D.C. Report: CMS Grants Quality Reporting Waiver for Hurricane-Sandy Area Providers

December 4, 2012     Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services intends to waive certain quality data submission and validation requirements for hospitals in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island counties designated “major disaster” areas for Hurricane Sandy by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, CMS announced recently.

Balancing Innovation, Budget Constraints and Network Security

December 3, 2012     John DeGaspari
article
With the rapid adoption of audiovisual technology into healthcare, healthcare CIOs and other healthcare IT leaders face the difficult decision of how to balance their organizations’ investment dollars against budgetary constraints, security, and selection of technology that is appropriate to the provider organization’s IT infrastructure. At a roundtable discussion, “Balancing Innovation, Budget Constraints, and Network Security,” part of the Technology Crossroads Conference that was put on by the National eHealth Collaborative in Washington, D.C., last week, expert panelists discussed wide-raging topics confronting provider organizations against the backdrop of the fast-changing technology landscape, including technology investments, cost pressures, health information exchange, network security, cloud computing, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Thinking Really Big About Data: UPMC’s Lisa Khorey Talks About What’s Behind the Organization’s Groundbreaking Five-Year Initiative

December 3, 2012     Mark Hagland
article
Lisa Khorey, vice president of enterprise systems and data management at the University of Pittsburgh Medical center (UPMC) health system, shares her perspectives on what made her and her colleagues move forward on a five-year, $100 million enterprise healthcare analytics initiative

EHR Clinical Quality Measures Testing Platform Goes Live

November 16, 2012     Gabriel Perna
news
The Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has released the beta version of certification tool, Cypress, which tests EHRs and EHR modules in calculating Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 2 Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs). ONC says its certification program "provides a defined process" to ensure certificated EHRs meet the adopted standards and criteria of meaningful use.

CMS Posts Final 2014 Clinical Quality Measures

October 26, 2012     Gabriel Perna
news
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted the final Clinical Quality Measures (CQMS) for 2014 on its website, the government agency reported. CQMs will change in 2014 for providers, and those that are eligible for meaningful use, either Stage 1 or Stage 2, will have included the new criteria in their EHRs, CMS says.

D.C. Report: CHIME Reacts to Congressional Calls to Suspend Meaningful Use

October 16, 2012     Jeff Smith, Assistant Director of Advocacy at CHIME
article
CHIME members voiced their concern this week with congressional proposals to “immediately suspend” EHR incentive payments. In an Oct. 4 letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI-4), Energy & Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI-6), Ways & Means Health Subcommittee Chair Wally Herger (R-CA-2) and Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Joe Pitts (R-PA-16) voice concern that the incentive payments were being wasted because many providers continue to lack interoperability.

Is Comparing Hospitals by Readmission Rates Unfair?

October 12, 2012     Gabriel Perna
blog
Two university research studies are indicating that the way in which readmission rates are calculated can create a variance and might be misleading. Considering the serious penalties derived from the mandatory Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Readmissions Reduction program, are hospitals getting the shaft with the way calculations are made?

Study: Physician, Patient Engagement Keys to Success in High-Intensity Primary Care

October 11, 2012     Gabriel Perna
article
What is the way to success in a high-intensity primary care program aimed at improving quality and lowering costs for a sub-set of patients with chronic conditions? It comes through increased patient and physician engagement, according to the results of a recent study by the Washington D.C.-based Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) for the nonpartisan, nonprofit National Institute for Health Care Reform (NIHCR).

Study: Comparing Hospitals on Readmission Rates Creates Variance

October 9, 2012     Gabriel Perna
news
According to a new study in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), comparing hospital performance based on readmission rates and early death rates should require caution because those two indicators have significant variation in their values, depending on how they are calculated.
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