CMC-NorthEast chooses Premier’s QualityAdvisor solution for improving patient care

Feb 18 2010

The Premier healthcare alliance today announced that Carolinas Medical Center NorthEast (CMC-NorthEast) of Concord, N.C., selected Premier’s QualityAdvisor™ solution to improve delivery of patient care and safely reduce costly avoidable patient events.

“The intent of the OPPE requirements is to help care providers drive performance improvements on a more timely basis, identifying areas for improvement so doctors can improve their care over time and not be penalized for something out of their control”

“One of our main objectives is to have a consistent solution and process for driving high-quality care across our entire healthcare system,” said Deb McGowan, director of performance improvement at CMC-NorthEast, part of the Carolinas Healthcare System. “Our goal is to work side by side with our physicians to identify areas for process improvement that will ensure the best quality care for our patients. This healthcare data product is a key element and given its strong physician reporting capabilities that help support The Joint Commission Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluations (OPPE), QualityAdvisor will enhance our ability to better define those opportunities and engage in meaningful dialogue with our physicians.”

QualityAdvisor, part of Premier’s QualityConnect™, combines clinically proven analytical methods with a benchmark database of more than 600 facilities to provide timely, actionable information in all levels of a healthcare organization. The solution identifies clinical and financial improvement opportunities, understands drivers for variation in practice, and monitors quality of care.

“The intent of the OPPE requirements is to help care providers drive performance improvements on a more timely basis, identifying areas for improvement so doctors can improve their care over time and not be penalized for something out of their control," said Premier Senior Vice President of Healthcare Informatics Keith J. Figlioli. “Our solutions support The Joint Commission OPPE recommended metrics, identifying variance in practice patterns and resource utilization to provide analyses that tell our members what they need to know to make meaningful, rapid change. Premier has saved hospitals and health systems nationwide millions of dollars by isolating process breakdowns that can lead to variation in practice, as well as prioritizing clinical process improvements and quality management opportunities."

Using methodologies such as the National Quality Forum’s "Hospital Performance: Additional Priority Areas" CareScience Risk Adjusted Average Length of Inpatient Hospital Stay Measure, patient outcomes metrics are used to trend patient demographics, treatment patterns, patient flow, resource utilization, provider comparisons, and events after admission and their resulting impacts.

In addition, Premier Consulting Solutions™ provides consulting to hospitals working to create the processes around OPPE and Focused Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE) in anticipation of The Joint Commission surveys.

Along with supporting The Joint Commission OPPE regulatory reporting needs, QualityAdvisor also provides analyses on Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) indicators and hospital acquired conditions, and links core measures data to outcomes.

Key features of QualityAdvisor include:

• Patient outcomes: Leverage captured patient and process data to identify strategic quality of care improvement opportunities.
• Clinical performance: Supply performance improvement teams with comparative information that prompts action.
• Financial performance: Pinpoint areas of care where process modifications will yield greatest cost savings without sacrificing quality.
• Operational performance: Track patient flow and resource utilization for a deeper understanding of clinical and operational outcomes and expenditures.
• Strategic planning: Benchmark against peer organizations and implement best-practices that have a real-world impact on healthcare institutions.
• Physician performance: Formalize physician reporting with Physician Profiles.
• Compliance: Achieve regulatory compliance with one solution for submitting quality measures.

Premier's QualityConnect is an integrated product and services offering aimed at addressing the pressing quality of care challenges facing healthcare organizations today.

Source Premier Inc.,