Quality Reporting Measures
HCA’s TriStar Health System facilities support the efforts of third-party quality monitoring organizations in collecting and analyzing various data from hospitals across the country. The data collected by these organizations serves as a useful tool for helping consumers identify hospital strengths and weaknesses and make informed choices when selecting healthcare facilities. Such quality reporting initiatives also improve the state of the healthcare industry by encouraging transparency and accountability to the public.
With consumers having a greater stake in their healthcare purchasing decisions, it’s important for them to know that there is a tremendous difference in clinical quality outcomes between hospitals. However, consumers should keep in mind that performance data is not a singular source of information for assessing the quality and services of hospitals.
All HCA hospitals voluntarily report our performance data and information to the organizations listed below.
The Joint Commission
Serves as the nation's leading standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare and focuses on improving the quality and safety of care provided by healthcare organizations. The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website provides comparison information that a person can use to determine whether a healthcare organization will meet his or her needs.
http://www.qualitycheck.org/consumer/searchQCR.aspx
Leapfrog
The Leapfrog Group is an initiative driven by organizations that buy healthcare who are working to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare for Americans. It is a voluntary program aimed at mobilizing employer purchasing power to alert America’s health industry that big leaps in healthcare safety, quality and customer value will be recognized and rewarded.
Leapfrog helps consumers make smarter healthcare choices by showing you what steps hospitals are taking to reduce preventable medical mistakes. Click here for information including ratings of hospitals.
http://www.leapfroggroup.org
Hospital Compare – CMS
The federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – known as CMS - provides data that allows consumers the ability to compare hospitals. Called “Hospital Compare,” the measures provide a snapshot of hospital performance for three specific medical conditions: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care improvement.
The data measures how hospitals managed those three conditions one year ago – during the first and second quarters of 2004. This data can be of great value to consumers and businesses if it is interpreted and used appropriately. It is important to consider the following points when reviewing the Hospital Compare data.
• The data does not cover all areas of hospital quality. It is simply a starting point that should be a roadmap for consumers to ask questions.
• The data, which comes from a combination of sources, is not fail-proof.
• It’s important to discuss any hospital quality data – regardless of its source – with your physician.
http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov
The National Quality Forum – NQF
The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit membership organization created to develop and implement a national strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting.
Established as a public-private partnership, the NQF has broad participation from all parts of the healthcare system, including national, state, regional, and local groups representing consumers, public and private purchasers, employers, healthcare professionals, provider organizations, health plans, accrediting bodies, labor unions, supporting industries, and organizations involved in healthcare research or quality improvement. Together, the organizational members of the NQF will work to promote a common approach to measuring healthcare quality and fostering system-wide capacity for quality improvement.
http://www.qualityforum.org
State Reportable Events Database
Collaboration
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international non-profit and independent organization, dedicated to making up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.
http://www.cochrane.org
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