NQF Reviews Group 2 Hospital
Measures, Safe Practices
January 31, 2003 - The Board of Directors of the National
Quality Forum (NQF) met on Jan. 29 to discuss whether to endorse,
modify, or reject member votes on the proposed Group 2 Hospital
Measures Set, the Framework for Hospital Care Performance
Evaluation, and the Safe Practices report.
NQF staff began the discussion on the Group 2 set by noting
that the majority of Forum members approved eight of the thirteen
measures in the set. The approved measures included, among
others:
- Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) using internal
mammary artery;
- CABG volume;
- Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) volume and
mortality;
- Central line catheter associated infection;
- Ventilator associated pneumonia; and
- Patient falls per 1,000 patient days.
There was some discussion about the approved measures among
the Board members. They were able to reach a consensus and
resolve some proprietary issues with the PCI volume and PCI
mortality measures. During the public comment period audience
members raised some issues that spurred more discussion. Hospital
representatives mentioned the many problems associated with
collecting the data for the infection rate measures NQF members
approved. Despite these comments, the Board formally endorsed
all eight measures and agreed to send the five measures that
were not approved by the membership back for further review.
The Framework for Hospital Care Performance Evaluation consists
of three guiding principles, six primary recommendations,
and 20 secondary recommendations. Forum staff mentioned that
NQF members approved all framework items. The Board formally
endorsed the Hospital Framework after agreeing to the minor
edits.
The proposed Safe Practices report identified 30 practices.
Forum members voted to approve 27 of the 30 practices, and
agreed to send the following three practices back for further
review and a second round of voting:
- Refer patients to hospitals that are likely to produce
the best outcomes;
- Intensive care units should be managed by critical
care physicians; and
- Pharmacists should participate in all stages of the
medication use process.
In addition, they agreed to review one of the 27 practices,
which focused on transmitting patient information, in light
of HIPAA regulations.
Information:
Jeff Patyk, Staff Specialist
AAMC Health Care Affairs
jpatyk@aamc.org
(202) 828-0498
Get Washington Highlights
in your Inbox!
| 
