Safety First

NQF OKs unplanned-readmissions measures

Continuing the trend of targeting preventable hospitalizations, the National Quality Forum endorsed two measures related to all-cause unplanned readmissions. Learn more from Modern Healthcare here.

AHRQ issues 2011 health care quality and disparities reports

Health care quality is improving faster than access to care and disparities in care, according to the 2011 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports, released April 20 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The reports look at about 250 measures of health care quality, access and efficiency from a variety of national sources.

Between 2002 and 2008, 77% of quality measures related to treatment of acute illness or injury showed improvement, compared with about half of measures related to preventive care and chronic disease management, the reports indicate. At the same time, 50% of the measures that tracked disparities in health care access showed no improvement, while 40% were getting worse.

Specifically, Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives experienced worse access to care than whites on more than 60% of the access measures, while African Americans experienced worse access on slightly more than 30% of the access measures.

[ via AHA News Now ]

Helicopter transport to trauma centers associated with improved survival

Adults with serious injuries are more likely to survive if transported to a level I or II trauma center by helicopter than by ground transport, according to a study published April 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Helicopter transport was associated with a 16% better chance of survival, based on data from more than 200,000 patients in the 2007-2009 versions of the American College of Surgeons National Trauma Data Bank.

The measured outcomes included survival to hospital discharge and discharge disposition. "Future studies should focus on efficient and user-friendly pre-hospital assessment tools to properly identify injured adults who will be the most likely to benefit from helicopter transport," the authors said.

The JAMA issue focuses on comparative effectiveness research.

[ via AHA News Now ]

Project targets surgical-site infections

The American College of Surgeons and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have teamed up on a three-year project that will use health information technology, standardized quality measures and other tools to more effectively target surgical-site infections and related complications. Read more from Modern Physician here.

NQF endorses 30 care measures

The National Quality Forum has endorsed 30 measures covering three areas: perinatal care, renal care and resource use. Read more from Modern Healthcare here.