This week's Compliance Update is written by Andrew Buffenbarger, Managing Associate at MPA. Andrew Buffenbarger has  extensive experience over a 20+ year career in long term care managing private and publicly owned facilities. Mr. Buffenbarger is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator who specializes in developing comprehensive quality management systems, survey management, and collective bargaining strategies.

Measure

Skilled nursing facilities are under intense pressure from regulators, plaintiffs' attorneys, resident families, the public, employees, and most importantly residents to provide the best care. Your quality assurance team is your strongest ally in this effort, but they need to be guided by reliable data. The National Quality Forum (NQF) recommends developing a consistent set of measurable quality indicators:

Measures drive improvement - Teams of healthcare providers who review their performance measures are able to make adjustments in care, share successes, and probe for causes when progress comes up short -- all on the road to improved patient outcomes.

Measures inform consumer - Consumers can consult national sources such as HospitalCompare.gov and NursingHomeCompare.gov. As a growing number of measures are publicly reported, consumers are better able to assess quality for themselves, and use the results to make choices, ask questions, and advocate for better healthcare.

Measures influence payment - Increasingly, private and public payors use measures as preconditions for payment and targets for bonuses, whether it is paying providers for performance or instituting nonpayment for complications associated with "Serious Reportable Events."

Where to start

First, consider your population and determine what outcomes you want to improve. Some common quality indicators are frequency of falls and infections, antipsychotic use, and restraint use. These four categories represent significant risk areas for most communities. The quality indicators you choose should be specific to the needs of your population.

1. Find a leader in your organization to oversee the quality assurance process. Hint: it should not be the Administrator.
2. Develop a list of quality indicators that will be tracked routinely.
3. Develop tracking mechanisms and start gathering data. You will first need to determine your baseline so you can measure improvements against it.
4. Develop performance targets for each quality indicator.
5. Determine how the team should respond to results that do not match your targets.
6. Consistently document your results and approach.
7. Communicate the entire process to everyone in the organization, from line staff to Board Chair. Everyone should know how you define good care and how you will ensure success.

MPA can help

Management Performance Associates can assist in developing and/or managing a strong, internally consistent quality assurance program. Our staff of industry experts has decades of experience developing better systems within the healthcare environment. If you are interested in creating a quality assurance program, or taking your existing program to the next level, contact Management Performance Associates today.

Andrew Buffenbarger

Managing Associate, MPA

314-434-4227 ● adb@healthcareperformance.com

Http://www.healthcareperformance.com

MPA provides this material for general informational purposes only. Qualified, experienced MPA professionals write the contents of MPA materials. We urge you to carefully consider all of the facts and circumstances of your situation before applying specific information in our email communications. MPA is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice, and nothing herein is intended to be legal advice. Receipt of this email does not create an attorney-client relationship.