quality data

PA senators work to save PHC4

Anne Zieger — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:22:06 -0400

If things remain as they are, it seems that the nationally-recognized healthcare data monitoring agency known as the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) will die on November 30. However, two PA senators are working to make sure that it is resurrected as soon as possible.

Ordinarily, the fall of a small state agency wouldn't attract much attention. But in this case, things are different. The council has been important, not just in Pennsylvania, but around the country for its reports on trends in medical costs, such as a recent study concluding that in-hospital death rates for heart-bypass surgery patients in Pennsylvania hit their lowest level in more than a decade during 2006. All told, the PHC4 has kept a particularly sharp eye on key cost and quality trends in the state, setting a standard for other states to follow.

The agency officially went out of business in early July, but Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell (D) temporarily extended its life. However, that extension only lasts until November 30, and the Pennsylvania Senate has gone home for the year without an agreement to extend its life further.

Fortunately, two Pennsylvania senators, Wayne Fontana (D) and Pat Vance (R), have promised to do their best to push through an agreement as quickly as possible after the Senate returns in January.

To learn more about the council:
- Read this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette piece

CMS will pay more than $36M in quality reporting

Anne Zieger — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:36:57 -0400

CMS has announced that it will pay out more than $36 million in incentives money to providers who reported data on quality of care delivered between July 2007 and December 2007 as part of its Physician Quality Reporting Initiative. Under the PQRI, health providers who choose to participate get bonuses of 1.5 percent of their total CMS payments during the reporting period in which they reported quality data. Average payments for the most recent period range from $600 for individual physicians to $4,700 for groups. The largest payment CMS plans to make to a practice is more than $205,700. Health professionals in the states of Florida and states with the largest payouts are getting $5 million of the total, the agency said.

To learn more about PQRI payouts:
- read this Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report item

Related Articles:
Bill establishes physician quality reporting system
CMS tightening PQRI measures
MGMA: Medicare quality reporting costly

Joint Commission releases new inpatient psych measures

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:59:56 -0400

The Joint Commission has released a new set of seven inpatient psychiatric measures for use with the group's Oryx performance-measurement requirements. Eventually, the data will appear on the Commission's Quality Check website, which offers quality data comparisons for hospitals. The measures, which go into effect Oct. 1, are admission screening for violence risk, substance use, psychological-trauma history and patient strengths assessment; hours of physical restraint use, hours of seclusions use, patients discharged on multiple antipsychotic drugs, patients on multiple anti-psychotics with appropriate justification, post-discharge plan created and post-discharge continuing-care plan transmitted to next level of care provider on discharge. Now, the Joint Commission is asking for an endorsement of the measures from the National Quality Forum.

To learn more about the standards:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

ALSO NOTED: Plavix copycat on the rise in Europe; Hospital bills for services to dead patient; and much more...

Fri, 09 May 2008 06:59:50 -0400

> Pharma giants Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb are preparing to battle a copycat generic to its Plavix brand. FiercePharma

> Talk about a nasty billing conflict: A deceased patient's husband and the hospital that cared for her went through a months-long wrangle over services delivered after his wife died. FierceHealthFinance

> Experts are wondering whether vaccines can provide immunity in the absence of natural exposure to those diseases. FierceVaccines

> California hospital upstart Prime Healthcare has joined the Premier healthcare alliance to begin reporting quality data. Article

And Finally... Wow. People will do just about anything for pizza. Article

SPOTLIGHT: Consumers trust web health info, but not quality data

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:52 -0400

A new study suggests that while consumers are comfortable using the web to search for health information, they're not as comfortable with sites that provide quality data. In fact, they trust health information 80 percent of the time, but trust quality data only 40 percent of the time, according to researchers. This is partly because patients simply aren't used to reading quality data, but also because they aren't sure quality ratings are relevant to their needs, they concluded. Article

Report: Quality of care increases slowly

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

A new report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality concludes that healthcare quality improvements are slowing. The agency, which has been compiling quality data for five years, reported that according to their composite measure, healthcare quality improved at a 2.3 percent average annualized rate between 1994 and 2005. However, the rate fell to 1.5 percent from 2000 to 2005. (It previously found that patient safety was inching along as well, with measures showing only 1 percent improvement during the latter timespan.) Meanwhile, it found that CMS-estimated costs climbed 6.7 percent from 1994 to 2005.

That being said, there were some bright spots in the report. The percentage of heart attack patients who received smoking cessation counseling shot up from 42.7 percent in 2000-01 to 90.9 percent in 2005. And potentially avoidable hospitalizations fell 8 percent between 2000 and 2004.

To learn more about the report:
- read this AMNews piece

Related Articles:
Study challenges volume-based quality goals
Joint Commission says hospitals lag on key quality measures
Joint Commission studies nursing care quality measures
AHRQ: Patient safety improving, but slowly

Study: One of 15 hospitalized children harmed

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

A study using new methodology for detecting errors points up an alarming discrepancy between the level of potential harm children faced in hospitals, and what may actually be happening. The study, conducted by the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, concluded that medication errors and adverse drug reactions harm about one out of 15 hospitalized children. The study drew on randomly-selected charts for 960 children treated at 12 freestanding children's hospitals across the U.S. in 2002.

As part of the study, the group developed a new monitoring method which provides a list of 15 "triggers" on childrens' charts that might suggest drug-related harm, as well as specific antidotes for overdoses and side effects. The group did an in-depth review of any case where triggers were found. The group's researchers found 11 drug-related harmful events for every 100 hospitalized children, much higher than the estimated two per 100 estimated by prior methods.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Associated Press item

Related Articles:
Quality studies proposed for children's healthcare. Report
Babies infected at CA hospital. Report
Study: Hospitalized kids get off-label drugs. Report

Study: Hospital costs vary greatly by location

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

New data from Dartmouth Medical School highlights a problem that is likely to become more widely discussed as health reform schemes--and related calls for pricing controls--continue to move forward. Researchers compiling information for the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare, which comes out every two years, examined records of 4.7 million patients who died during 2001 to 2005. What they found was the kind of disparities in costs that continue to frustrate policy-makers and employers. For example, they found that for chronically ill patients in their last two years of life, Medicare spends an average of $59,379 in New Jersey, but only $32,523 in North Dakota, largely due to New Jersey patients getting more hospital care. (The national average for such spending was $46,412.) Unfortunately, more hospital care didn't equate to better outcomes; such patients were seen by more specialists, and spent more time in the ICU, but didn't live longer on average.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Associated Press article

Related Article:
SPOTLIGHT: Berwick: Quality cuts Medicare costs. Report

Medicare releases volume, customer satisfaction data

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

For the first time, Medicare has released volume and payment information for a list of selected conditions, along with the results from its new consumer satisfaction survey, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). Medicare already posts hospital quality data for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care to its Hospital Compare website. The agency now will add information showing how often Medicare patients were admitted to hospitals for a set of conditions, as well as what Medicare paid for treatments to the site and HCAHPS data. The HCAHPS data includes feedback from more than 2,500 hospitals participating in the program's launch.

To learn more about Medicare's plans:
- read this Modern Healthcare article (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
Gap widens in patient satisfaction study. Report
"Mystery shoppers" check up on healthcare. Report
Some CA hospitals at odds with rating system. Report

Group of hospitals joins BC of CA P4P program

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:57 -0400

A group of 23 hospitals have joined Blue Cross of California's new inpatient pay-for-performance program, which is structured to give the facilities adjustments to their inpatient fixed-payment rates if they achieve certain scores on quality, clinical processes and outcomes. To participate in the Quality-in-Sights Hospital Incentive Program, hospitals must submit quality data to the California Hospital Assessment and Reporting Task Force. Hospitals getting on board include USC University Hospital in Los Angeles, Irvine (CA) Regional Hospital and Medical Center, San Ramon (CA) Regional Medical Center and University Medical Center in Fresno. To date, there's been more P4P programs involving large medical groups than hospitals in most of the country, so I'm looking forward to see how hospitals fare here.

To learn more about the program:
- read this Modern Healthcare article (reg. req.)

Related Articles:
Pay for performance becoming business as usual. Report
Case study: MI groups make P4P dollars through IT use. Report
CMS program would base hospital pay on performance. Report
Medicare P4P results show care improvements. Report
Positive results for Medicare P4P pilot. Report
Exclusive: How to make P4P work. Interview