KHA Guide to Hospital Healthcare Quality/Patient Safety Initiatives 

NATIONAL HOSPITAL REPORTING INITIATIVE (a.k.a. RHQDAPU, Hospital Data Collection, AHA Quality Initiative)  - This initiative targets reporting on the ‘10 Measurements’ covering patients with pneumonia, heart failure, and acute myocardial infarction. HOSPITAL COMPARE - This tool provides you with information on how well the hospitals in your area care for all their adult patients with certain medical conditions. This information will help you compare the quality of care hospitals provide. Hospital Compare was created through the efforts of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and organizations that represent hospitals, doctors, employers, accrediting organizations, other Federal agencies and the public Specifications Manual for National Hospital Quality Measures Overview of Specifications for Hospital Compare measures [PDF 149 KB 12/15/05] HQA Hospital Quality Measures:2004-2007 [PDF 88 KB] HQA Ten Measure “Starter Set” [PDF 24 KB] The American Hospital Association (AHA), the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Federation of American Hospitals along with support from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), National Quality Forum (NQF), and other national organizations are the key proponents behind this initiative.

Kentucky Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) - Healthcare EXCEL - The CMS administers the Medicare QIO Program, which is designed to monitor and improve the quality of health care for Medicare beneficiaries.  The Medicare QIO will provide assistance to your organization in meeting requirements for both CMS and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). QNET Exchange Web Site  New improved web site!!!

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - provides evidence-based information on health care outcomes; quality; and cost, use, and access. Information from AHRQ’s research helps people make more informed decisions and improve the quality of health care services. AHRQ was formerly known as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.  AHRQ releases annually to Congress. These reports are quite large and for some tables include information at a state or regional level in addition to national aggregate information. These reports and others can be found through connecting to this site: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/measurix.htm .    HCUP - AHRQ also sponsors the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project ). H-CAHPS - The HCAHPS survey is intended to be part of the National Voluntary Hospital Reporting Initiative launched by AHA, FAH, and AAMC. It is expected that HCAHPS will comprise an additional and differently focused phase of quality of care measurement Quality Indicators - The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Quality Indicators (QIs) are measures of health care quality that make use of readily available hospital inpatient administrative data. The AHRQ QIs consist of three modules measuring various aspects of quality.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) What is the JCAHO Core Measurement Initiative

National Quality Forum - The National Quality Forum is a private, not-for-profit membership organization created to develop and implement a national strategy for healthcare quality measurement and reporting. The mission of the NQF is to improve American healthcare through endorsement of consensus-based national standards for measurement and public reporting of healthcare performance data that provide meaningful information about whether care is safe, timely, beneficial, patient-centered, equitable and efficient.