By joining the PCPI, SHM has aligned with other medical specialties to develop performance measures in geriatrics, emergency medicine, outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy, and facets of anesthesiology such as perioperative normothermia and critical care.
Additionally, SHM has given feedback during public comment periods on perioperative care, chronic kidney disease, and other measures. The task force continues to evaluate which workgroups it should appoint members to participate in, depending on the topic.
SHM leadership has continued to foster relationships with CMS by sending letters in support of the 2007 PQRI. SHM was able to influence changes to the 2007 measure specifications so hospitalists would have measures to report. Of the 74 measures included in the PQRI, 11 have specifications allowing reporting by hospitalists, underscoring the importance of SHM’s influence and participation in the PCPI process.
Dr. Torcson and Eric Siegal, MD, (regional medical director, Cogent Healthcare, Madison, Wis.) co-chaired a CMS-led SHM member conference call focused on PQRI and how it affects hospitalists. The program was well received by SHM members.
When SHM became a member of the NQF last summer, it nominated several members who were selected to participate on various technical advisory panels overseeing work on the development of consensus standards for hospital care. This project, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is addressing patient safety, pediatrics, and inpatient care.
Last fall, SHM sent Mark Williams, MD (professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and editor of The Journal of Hospital Medicine) to the NQF’s 7th Annual Meeting, a National Policy Conference on Quality. The meeting featured plenary sessions that focused on issues at the forefront of policy discussions, including incentivizing healthcare quality improvement, the role of policymakers, leading professional and trade associations in improving healthcare quality, and efforts under way in the federal government to foster healthcare improvements.
This fall, Greg Seymann, MD, will attend the 8th Annual Meeting. Dr. Seymann is an assistant professor with the Department of Medicine, Hospital Medicine Program, at the University of California San Diego Medical Center.
Goals for 2008, Beyond
By taking an active role in the performance and standard arena, SHM senior staff and leadership have been able to build key relationships. This has paved the way for influencing the current physician reporting program and taking the lead on developing measures that will most reflect hospital medicine in the future.
The task force intends to be at the helm of the development of performance measures that more accurately reflect services provided by hospitalists. Senior staff and leadership have discussed this goal with several national stakeholders including the PCPI and the NQF, whose senior staff have supported its agenda.
In July, SHM, along with the American College of Physicians (ACP), the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM), and the American Geriatrics Society (AGS), formed a steering committee to convene a transitions of care consensus conference. This multispecialty, multidisciplinary group reviewed the principles and standards that came from the ABIM Foundation’s Stepping Up to the Plate (SUTTP) Alliance, which met this spring. SHM and PCPI are working to form an expert workgroup that will develop six to eight care transitions measures for inclusion in the 2009 PQRI.
SHM also is exploring collaboration with the American Hospital Association and its Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), which coordinates the promotion of quality measurement, transparency, and improvement in the hospital setting.
In addition to its work with these external national groups, task force members would also like to start a resource room on the SHM Web site, www.hospitalmedicine.org, which would be devoted to member efforts in research related to quality and performance standards, as well as the member go-to place for tools and references on best practices in performance standards and pay for reporting initiatives.