This ground-breaking book addresses the critical, growing need among health care administrators and practitioners to measure the effectiveness of quality improvement efforts. Written by respected healthcare quality professionals, Measuring Quality Improvement in Healthcare covers practical applications of the tools and techniques of statistical process control (SPC), including control charts, in healthcare settings. The authors' straightforward discussions of data collection, variation, and process improvement set the context for the use and interpretation of control charts. Their approach incorporates "the voice of the customer" as a key element driving the improvement processes and outcomes. The core of the book is a set of 12 case studies that show how to apply statistical thinking to health care process, and when and how to use different types of control charts. The practical, down-to-earth orientation of the book makes it accessible to a wide readership. "Only authors who have used statistics and control charts to solve real-world healthcare problems could have written a book so practical and timely." - Barry S. Bader, Publisher The Quality Letter for Healthcare Leaders "Many clinicians and other healthcare leaders underestimate the great contributions that better statistical thinking could make toward reducing costs and improving outcomes. This fascinating and timely book is a fine guide for getting started." - Donald M. Berwick, M.D. President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School Contents: Planning Your CQI Journey, Preparing to Collect Data, Data Collection, Understanding Variation, Using Run and Control Charts to Analyze Process Variation, Control Chart Case Studies, Developing Improvement Strategies, Using Patient Surveys for CQI, Formulas for Calculating Control Limits

The National Roundtable on Health Care Quality was established in 1995 by the Institute of Medicine. The Roundtable consists of experts formally appointed through procedures of the National Research Council (NRC) who represent both public and private-sector perspectives and appropriate areas of substantive expertise (not organizations). From the public sector, heads of appropriate Federal agencies serve. It offers a unique, nonadversarial environment to explore ongoing rapid changes in the medical marketplace and the implications of these changes for the quality of health and health care in this nation. The Roundtable has a liaison panel focused on quality of care in managed care organizations. The Roundtable convenes nationally prominent representatives of the private and public sector (regional, state and federal), academia, patients, and the health media to analyze unfolding issues concerning quality, to hold workshops and commission papers on significant topics, and when appropriate, to produce periodic statements for the nation on quality of care matters. By providing a structured opportunity for regular communication and interaction, the Roundtable fosters candid discussion among individuals who represent various sides of a given issue.

Measuring and Improving Patient Satisfaction provides a detailed "how-to" approach to establishing an effective patient satisfaction measurement program. The reader learns how to measure patient satisfaction and act upon the information obtained from patient satisfaction surveys. The book is based on the author's own experience in creating and implementing a patient satisfaction measurement program for the Med-Partners Friendly Hills Health Network in Southern California.

In a world where there is increasing demand for the performance of health providers to be measured, there is a need for a more strategic vision of the role that performance measurement can play in securing health system improvement. This volume meets this need by presenting the opportunities and challenges associated with performance measurement in a framework that is clear and easy to understand. It examines the various levels at which health system performance is undertaken, the technical instruments and tools available, and the implications using these may have for those charged with the governance of the health system. Technical material is presented in an accessible way and is illustrated with examples from all over the world. Performance Measurement for Health System Improvement is an authoritative and practical guide for policy makers, regulators, patient groups and researchers.

Health cost is escalating. Today health care systems are responsible for a considerable proportion of public expenses. Patient safety became a major concern and evolved as a global problem with the increase in public perception on adverse events. As a result, improving the quality of care and measuring performance using effective measurement tools became major public and political issues challenging health care organizations. In response to this, considerable effort and expenses have been devoted to develop and implement quality initiatives in health care organizations. It is essential that the assessment of quality initiatives use evidence-based measurements to evaluate their outcomes. Joint Commission International (JCI), a wholly-controlled non profit affiliate of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) was established with a goal to continuously improve the level of healthcare organizations by introducing international standards and indicators applicable to different countries around the globe. Anecdotal evidence and numerous testimonials suggest performance improvement, yet no empirical studies have been conducted to demonstrate the overall benefits of applying the JCI standards, in countries outside the US. This book presents a robust methodology to measure quality performance of health care organizations and evaluate the effectiveness of JCI standards in improving the quality of care. The book is based on a study that used a holistic performance measurement model to measure the effect of the newly developed JCI standards on the perceived quality performance and the progress toward organizational excellence of a 400-bed hospital in a developing country. The study used a longitudinal quantitative design over a period of 15 months. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 250 staff, 250 patients and families, 200 patients' medical records, and 60 self-assessment surveys based on the accreditation bodies' approach. The results showed a significant perceived improvement in the overall organizational performance index 15 months after the implementation of JCI standards. The results highlighted many areas of strength in the standards, mainly in their impact on organizational excellence, quality improvement and patients' safety, leadership and management performance, patients' satisfaction and delight, organizational learning, organizational ethical performance, and documentation. The results also identified opportunities for improvement in the JCI standards with respect to human resource management and the absence of standards that address issues existing in organizations with corporate structures.

This publication describes what international comparable quality measures are currently available and how to link these measures to quality policies such as accreditation, practice guidelines, pay-for-performance, national safety programmes and quality reporting.

Written by an internationally-recognized expert in the field of quality management, this text is an essential guide for understanding how to plan and implement a successful quality measurement program in your healthcare facility. It begins by presenting an overview of the context for quality measurement, the forces influencing the demand for quality reform, how to listen to the voice of the customer, and the characteristics of quality that customers value most. Students will also learn how to select and define indicators to collect data and how to organize data into a dashboard that can provide feedback on progress toward quality measurement. Finally, this book explores how to analyze the data by detailing how variation lives in your data, and whether this variation is acceptable. Case studies are provided to demonstrate how quality measurement can be applied to clinical as well as operational aspects of healthcare delivery.

Efforts to reform healthcare systems around the globe are proliferating rapidly. No country is immune from the two fundamental pressures that are driving change: cost and access. Every system is experimenting with measures designed to contain costs while simultaneously trying to determine how best to resolve the question of who should be eligible for what services under what conditions.In the midst of these experiments, serious concerns about quality are being raised. Are efforts to contain costs leading to practices which have a detrimental impact on quality? What, in fact, is “quality” in the world of healthcare? How should it be measured? And how can it be improved? These questions are on the cutting edge of debates about the management of healthcare in the future.This book examines these questions in detail by combining chapters outlining the basic issues with others describing state-of-the-art efforts to measure and manage quality more effectively. The result is an up-to-date compendium of issues and experiences presented by leading researchers and practitioners which should be of interest to healthcare managers and policy makers as well as to students and researchers in the field.

Measuring and Managing Health Care Quality is a manual designed to aid in understanding how a variety of techniques, methods, and protocols can be integrated into a comprehensive, cyclic system to promote safer, more effective and efficient care. It is an ideal resource for quality managers, clinicians, members of quality task forces, or anyone new to quality measurement and management. Faced with the need to report on processes of care, patient satisfaction, and standards of performance, health care providers can use this manual to help evaluate the validity and usefulness of current measurements and to consider new options to replace or supplement those already in use. The manual guides health care providers through the process of improving the quality of health care by providing information on measuring performance, comparing performance with a standard, analyzing processes of care, identifying opportunities for improvement, and selecting interventions. Useful tools include: detailed step-by-step procedure for measuring and comparing outcomes of care, guide to the importance and impact of protocols, a model plan for organizational protocol development, an appendix of sample protocols collected from medical organizations from across the country, information on collecting information from patients, including analysis of questionnaires and surveys, and introduction of standard statistical methods that can be used to measure, risk adjust, and compare clinical outcomes. For Orders and Inquiries, please call: 1-888-427-5800.

A practical multidisciplinary approach to the improvement of the quality of clinical practice. It attempts to assist individuals or groups of clinicians to work togther to improve their local practice, by discussing how they can measure and appraise the quality and effectiveness of the care they deliver. The book also considers the broader context of quality improvement, describing organisational approaches and national initiatives. These discussions include the use of a range of audit tools and the role of care pathways in practice.