Report: Lack of Standards Hinders Quality Data Collection
We all know the role that quality data collection plays in the healthcare industry. This report, “Collecting & Reporting Data for Performance Measurement: Moving Toward Alignment”, focused on how health IT could reduce the financial impact of data reporting, but the lack of accepted standards remains a barrier for hospital performance data extraction.
One suggestion provided in the report that I agreed with was that EHR vendors need to have a clear & consistent picture of the functional requirements & standards surrounding the capture of data for quality measures. Most organizations rely on their data collection to make decisions that are best for their facility, and it would help improve the process if vendors were on board.
Another issue affecting data collection, is the financial impact which is “significant and going higher.” It pointed out that often it is the hospital’s HIM department performing the process of extracting data. I agreed with the point that the lack of documentation & quality make this process harder. HIM professionals often get stuck trying to fix others problems, and I believe our field should focus on developing the necessary standards to correct this issue.
Linda Kross, CEO of AHIMA, stated that “the data only need to be collected once & could be used by multiple stakeholders for various issues.” This applies to the need for a set of basic uniform measures that could be captured electronically at the point of care. This should be the focus since HIM is headed into the electronic era of capturing data.
The ultimate goal of performance reporting initiatives is to provide better care, rather than to achieve “better and faster reporting” says AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy. This is absolutely true. Often, people get carried away with trying the find the fastest way to complete a process, when they should be focused on its quality and how it affects the patient’s care.
Quality Tool
Self-Management Support Tool: Healthy Changes Plan
The quality tool I selected this week focused on how to develop your personal “Healthy Changes Plan”. The tool is easy to use and provides a list of questions to help the user develop their plan. The questions include:
1) The health change I want to make is (very specific: what, when, how, where, how often)
2) My goal for next month is
3) The steps I will take to achieve my goal are
4) The things that could make it difficult to achieve my goal include
5) My plan for overcoming these difficulties include
6) Support/resources I will need to achieve my goal include
7) My confidence that I can achieve my goal: (scale of 1-10 with 1 being not confident at all, 10 being extremely confident)
Out of all of the questions listed, I really think number four and five could really help a person meet their goal. For example, we often don’t think about what could prevent us from losing weight or how we will overcome those distractions/issues. Also, number six would help because you need to have a support system and resources to go to when needed.
Overall, I really thought this was a practical tool that could be easily adapted to meet anyone’s needs.
http://www.ihi.org/NR/rdonlyres/BEEB2F22-3455-4F75-9BF4-5E6DE31C8F2F/215/self_mngmt_support2.pdf
Classmate Pick of the Week- Amanda
I really liked the article that Amanda chose this week. I agree that organizations should not occasionally think about quality, instead they should have a “continuous improvement and accountability”. I know that I rather go to hospitals or other facilities that have a reputation for providing the best quality service around. People need to change their outlook from money to improvement of care.
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