HCMC joins national hospital quality initiative
Reinforces commitment to excellent quality of care
Hillsboro Community Medical Center is now voluntarily reporting data on the quality of patient care for use by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The voluntary reporting is in conjunction with the national Hospital Quality Initiative supported by CMS, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"HCMC is committed to providing the best care to every patient, every time. We are always working to improve our excellent record of quality of patient care," said chief executive officer Michael Ryan. "The CMS Hospital Quality Initiative gives us access to resources and hands-on training to support our quality improvement efforts."
"Publicly available quality data can help patients and their families to compare hospital care," Ryan added. "Consumers should also talk to healthcare professionals, family and friends, and local consumer organizations about hospital quality."
The results of the quality data HCMC is reporting will give consumers information about performance in three medical conditions — heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia. The conditions can result in hospital stays and are common among people with Medicare. The measures in each condition address key aspects of appropriate care:
Heart attack (Acute Myocardial Infarction)
Was aspirin given to the patient upon arrival at the hospital?
Was aspirin prescribed when the patient was discharged?
Was a beta-blocker given to the patient upon arrival at the hospital?
Was a beta-blocker prescribed when the patient was discharged? Was an ACE Inhibitor given to the patient with heart failure?
Heart failure
Did the patient get an assessment of his or her heart function?
Was an ACE Inhibitor given to the patient?
Pneumonia
Was an antibiotic given to the patient in a timely way?
Had a patient received a Pneumococcal vaccination?
Was the patient's oxygen level assessed?
The 10 quality measures have gone through years of extensive testing for validity and reliability by CMS and QIOs, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and researchers. The National Quality Forum (NQF), a voluntary standard-setting, consensus-building organization representing providers, consumers, purchasers, and researchers, has endorsed these measures.
The national Hospital Quality Initiative is part of an overall CMS effort to improve the quality of care provided to Medicare patients and to inform consumers through public reporting of quality information. Beginning in early 2005, the hospital quality data will be available on a consumer website, Hospital Compare, at www.medicare.gov, or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227). Currently, CMS publishes quality information on www.medicare.gov for Kansas Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing homes and Medicare-certified home health agencies.
KFMC is a not-for-profit healthcare organization based in Topeka whose mission is to facilitate the improvement of healthcare in Kansas. For more information on hospital quality statewide, contact KFMC at 1-800-432-0770 or visit KFMC's website at www.kfmc.org.
