Chapter 12. Improvement Support
Often stakeholders are uneasy about the effect
negative data will have on them. Providing participants with tools and
resources for improving low ratings is an important aspect of measuring and
reporting data. Without this component, measures can appear punitive to
stakeholders and may discourage participation.
As the following three examples indicate, some
Better Quality Information sites focus exclusively on data collection,
analysis, and reporting. Other sites partner with quality improvement groups
that use the data to help stakeholders develop and implement quality
improvement methods.
- The California Cooperative Healthcare Reporting Initiative,
founded and now partners with the California Quality Collaborative to work with
physician groups and health plans to share lessons learned, conduct performance
improvement projects, and provide other quality improvement services.
- Massachusetts Health Quality Partners works with the
Massachusetts Quality Improvement Organization and the Massachusetts Medical
Society to develop a quality improvement curriculum. Using the coalition's
data, the curriculum will integrate improvements in clinical quality with
improvements in patient experience.
- The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality shares data
with organizations before public release and invites the organization to add an
addendum to the collaborative's announcement about how the information will
affect the organization. The Wisconsin collaborative then sponsors educational
sessions and activities as a means of sharing best practices to help drive
improvement. In addition, the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality's
Cardiac Collaborative consists of seven organizations that have voluntarily
come together to drive improvement in both the quality and cost of
revascularization services in their institutions.
- The Center for Health Information and Research uses the principle
of prior approval by potentially identified data partners on all proposed
research using Arizona HealthQuery data, but no data partner has control over
results once approval is granted.
Whichever emphasis a new coalition wants to
have, it is important to decide early whether it will be reporting driven or
improvement driven. This decision will help to clarify the coalition's ultimate
mission and identify organizations that can help assist with quality
improvement (for example, Quality Improvement Organizations).
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