Drug Topics - October 22, 2007 - (Page H23)

www.drugtopics.com OCTOBER 22, 2007 DRUG TOPICS HSE 23 Professional Practice Premier launches comprehensive quality improvement project Martin Sipkoff A new project by the healthcare alliance Premier Inc. coronary artery bypass graft, pneumonia, and hip and is an aggressive attempt to develop performance knee replacement. The initial phase of the program will measures that “achieve quality and lower costs si- focus on mortality, appropriate care, and efficiency, with multaneously through utilization of specific performance harm avoidance and patient satisfaction the focus in measures,” said Dan Peterson, M.D., VP and medical di- Year 2. CMS awarded $8.7 million in incentive payments rector of Premier, a San Diego-based nationwide alliance earlier this year to the top hospitals in the program. of about 1,700 not-for-profit hospitals. “We can’t achieve The emphasis on relating quality and cost reflects the this without the active participation of pharmacists.” findings of an analysis Premier conducted of the HQID “Among the practitioners in a hospital, only one is project: Had all pneumonia, heart bypass, heart attack specifically trained to focus on medication use, and that’s (acute myocardial infarction), and hip and knee replacethe pharmacist,” said Kasey Thompson, Pharm.D., direc- ment patients nationally received most or all of the tor of patient safety at ASHP “So pharmacists must be in- HQID set of care processes in 2003, it could have result. volved in any performance measurement initiative such as ed in nearly 5,652 fewer deaths; 6,000 fewer complicathis one. In most such projects, the vast majority of qual- tions; 10,000 fewer readmissions; and one million fewer ity indicators involve medication management.” days in the hospital nationwide—and hospital costs could “QUEST: High Performing Hospitals” is a compre- have been as much as $1.4 billion lower. hensive three-year project. Participating hospitals will reQUEST is being conducted with the participation of port data to Premier on clearly defined performance the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston. measures related to quality, efficiency, safety, and patient IHI’s “5 Million Lives” campaign is an ongoing voluntary satisfaction. Premier plans to analyze the data, share best initiative to protect patients from five million incidents of practices, and ultimately provide incentives for hospitals medical harm between December 2006 and December in the top quartile. It is now creating an advisory board to 2008. IHI is offering technical assistance and improvehelp supervise the project and seeking hospitals willing to ment expertise to the QUEST program. participate. (QUEST is an acronym for Quality, Efficien- THE AUTHOR is a writer based in Gettysburg, Pa. cy, Safety, with Transparency.) “We absolutely plan to have pharmacist particPremier outlines project goals ipation on the advisory board,” said Scott Pope, Pharm.D., a project director with Premier. “They QUEST is a three-year performance-measurement project being conducted by the healthcare alliance Premier Inc. that is just getting will be strongly involved in molding and defining under way. Its five measurement areas are: specific measures.” A number of hospitals have already agreed to participate, including Geisinger •Mortality ratio, which will be risk-adjusted with a goal of eliminating all avoidable deaths Health System, Danville, Pa.; the Kettering Medical Center Network of Dayton, Ohio; and North •Appropriate care, which will measure the percentage of patients receiving “perfect care,” i.e., using nationally recognized evidenceMississippi Health Services, Tupelo, Miss. based measures. The QUEST project is based on the many principles used in the Hospital Quality Incentive •Efficiency, which will measure severity-adjusted cost per discharge, including all of the costs associated with each episode of acute care. Demonstration project (HQID), the recent payfor-performance initiative overseen by Premier •Harm avoidance, which is designed to mean the prevention of healthcare-associated infections and adverse drug events. “Many and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Sermeasures exist today in this area,” said a Premier spokesman. “Parvices. “We intend to build on that program,” said ticipating hospitals will evaluate a number of these measures to idenPeterson. HQID, begun in October 2003, in- tify those that have the greatest impact for use in QUEST.” volved more than 260 hospitals and 33 evidence- •Patient satisfaction, which will utilize the CMS Hospital Consumer based clinical quality measures. Participants sub- Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient mitted data to Premier and CMS on process and satisfaction measures. outcomes measures in five clinical areas: acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, http://www.drugtopics.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Drug Topics - October 22, 2007

Drug Topics - October 22, 2007 Contents Latebreakers Legislative Victory Builds Momentum for Pharmacy Month Letters Health-System Edition R.Ph.s Brace for Payment Denial for Hospital-Acquired Conditions Topical Human Thrombin Helps Arrest Bleeding FDA Panels Fail to Set Target Levels for Renal Patients’ Hemoglobin Warning Letters Raise Patient Safety Concerns for Fentora Ending/Reversing Weight Gain Man Given Fatal Drug Overdose at Staten Island Hospital Pharmacists Playing More Important Role in Dialysis Treatment AHA President R.Ph.'s Here's How You Can Increase Your Value Premier Launches Comprehensive Quality Improvement Project FDA Approves Dexrazoxane for Treatment of Extravasation New Federal, State Reforms to Ease Disaster Relief Kinks 150 Years of American Pharmacy Ten Tips for MTM Success Independent Superstars: The Ones to Watch The New Dynamic Duo A Parkinson's Disease Primer Classified New Products Advertisers Index Viewpoint

Drug Topics - October 22, 2007

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