Safety First

MAP issues pre-rulemaking recommendations for comment

The Measures Application Partnership on Jan. 11 released its pre-rulemaking report for public comment through Jan. 20. The report provides input to the Department of Health and Human Services on 368 measures HHS is considering for clinician, hospital and post-acute care/long-term care performance measurement programs, and includes the framework for aligned performance measurement that the MAP used to support its decision making.

Hospitals are encouraged to review the MAP recommendations, which will inform the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ selection of measures for value-based purchasing, the hospital inpatient and outpatient quality reporting programs, and other public reporting and payment programs vital to hospitals. Members with questions about the report should contact Nancy Foster, American Hospital Association vice president for quality and patient safety, at nfoster@aha.org.   

AHA plans to submit comments on the report and make them available to members as soon as possible.

Top 12 Healthcare Quality Concerns in 2012

Which quality issues will provoke the most influential changes in healthcare in 2012? Or, which ones will most rapidly accelerate the graying of chief quality officers' hair? There are so many, it's hard to pick the most significant. HealthLeaders interviewed quality experts around the country to glean the most influential and then picked a dozen.

AHA seeks applicants for patient safety leadership fellowship

Applications are being accepted for the 2012-2013 AHA-NPSF Comprehensive Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship, co-sponsored by the American Hospital Association and National Patient Safety Foundation. The Fellowship is a year-long program for clinical and administrative leaders dedicated to improving quality and patient safety.

Through a highly participatory learning experience, fellows gain competency with advanced patient safety concepts and are able to use those concepts through an Action Learning Project. For program details or to recommend a colleague, visit www.ahafellowships.org.

HQA recaps quality accomplishments as its role transitions to MAP

The Hospital Quality Alliance private-public partnership will transition its quality measure review processes to the Measures Application Partnership by Dec. 31, as authorized by Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Created in 2002, the HQA measure review model has served as the template for other quality alliances and was incorporated into ACA provisions that led to the formation of the MAP.

Among other accomplishments, the HQA advised the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in developing the Hospital Compare website, helped bring about the nation's first standardized survey for measuring patients' perceptions of their hospital care, and introduced the first measures of surgical site infections.

"The HQA has transformed the way patients and consumers get information on hospital quality of care," said AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock, HQA chairman. "Hospitals are proud of their efforts to be even more transparent and effective for the patients and communities they serve and look forward to working with the MAP to continue making progress in these efforts."

Study: Prescribing errors spike with EHR upgrades

Transitioning to an upgraded electronic health record system appears more likely to lead to errors in e-prescribing than implementing one for the first time, according to a recent article published in MedPage Today. Read more here.

Data key in use of performance measures

The availability of patient data is the most important factor affecting the use of performance measures, according to a report released by the National Quality Forum. Read the full story from Mauren McKinney in Modern Healthcare here.

Health Care Quality Measures Take on the Big Picture

Health care quality measures are evolving beyond traditional assessments of clinical processes to evaluate a much broader picture of care, encompassing everything from patient satisfaction to out-of-pocket health care costs. Learn more from Haydn Bush in Hospitals & Health Networks magazine here.

HRET receives contract to help hospitals reduce catheter-associated infections

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on Nov. 2 awarded the American Hospital Association’s Health Research & Educational Trust a $4 million contract to help hospitals across the country implement protocols to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections, the most common type of healthcare-associated infection. Twelve states currently participate in the AHRQ-funded program, which seeks to reduce CAUTI rates by at least 25%.

State hospital associations and patient safety leaders will help hospitals participating in the national expansion implement effective prevention strategies and unit-based safety programs. “HRET is honored and pleased that AHRQ has awarded this important project to us and our partners,” said HRET President Maulik Joshi.

For more on the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, visit www.onthecuspstophai.org and http://www.hret.org/quality/projects/stop-uti.shtml.

HRET to support AHRQ program to strengthen caregiver teamwork

The American Hospital Association’s Health Research & Educational Trust affiliate has received a $3.4 million, three-year contract from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to promote Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS). Developed by AHRQ and the Department of Defense, the evidence-based program helps hospital caregivers and others strengthen teamwork to improve patient safety.

HRET will coordinate the national network of TeamSTEPPS training centers, facilitate an annual meeting and a learning network that will equip master trainers to improve teamwork within their facilities, and update and expand free TeamSTEPPS materials for provider use.

“We believe that improved teamwork is vital to improving patient care and creating the efficient, high quality health care system that the United States wants and needs,” said HRET President Maulik Joshi. “With two strong organizational partners –Booz Allen and IMPAQ – as well as the support and input of health care providers, we are confident that we can achieve AHRQ’s ambitious goals for this contract.”

Peter Pronovost on the Next Frontier in Patient Safety

Peter Pronovost, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, talks to H&HN Contributing Editor Bob Kehoe about the Keystone Project to reduce preventable harm in Michigan hospitals, and discusses how managing population health is the cornerstone of any quality improvement effort.

Listen to the podcast here.