Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – October 1, 2005
October 1, 2005
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CMS moving steadily toward P4P; quality pros express reservations
Recent actions by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as well as comments from agency officials, make it clear that it is likely a case of when, not if, some form of pay-for-performance (P4P) or pay-for-quality system will be instituted. -
State report on HAIs yields sobering results
The first-ever accounting of statewide data on hospital-acquired infections, taken from 1.5 million discharges from 173 general acute care hospitals in 2004, shows that hospitals reported 11,668 confirmed hospital-acquired infections. -
NQF endorses Patient Safety Event Taxonomy
Before long, the nations patient safety professionals all will be speaking the same language, based on recent legislative developments and the endorsement by the National Quality Forum (NQF) of a voluntary system for classifying patient safety incidents to enable different patient safety reporting systems to communicate with each other. -
CPGs may not be best for older patients
Evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have become mantras of health care quality in the 21st century, but as a new study suggests, when it comes to older patients those guidelines should be used with extreme caution. -
ICDs recommended for patients at risk for SCD
Updated heart failure guidelines released Aug. 16 by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) give the highest level of recommendation that patients at risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) be treated with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). -
News Briefs
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and Joint Commission International (JCI) as the first WHO Collaborating Center dedicated solely to patient safety.