And hospitalists can assure their hospitals’ legal staffs that SHM has taken steps to ensure HIPAA compliance through third-party reviews. eQUIPS subscribers log into the site through a secured-password authentication similar to those of other online public health and financial institutions. In addition, SHM’s QI programs have earned the Patient Safety Organization (PSO) designation from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which makes it easier for hospitals to share performance data with SHM.
Real-Time Collaboration
Every hospital faces unique challenges, but they also have much in common when it comes to implementing new programs. As eQUIPS subscribers join, they can share their QI experiences and ask others for feedback in finding solutions.
The eQUIPS community website feature serves as a central, on-demand repository for sharing documents and educational materials, while the online workspace enables hospitalists to collaborate in real time by posting documents and editing them with other participating eQUIPS sites.
eQUIPS also brings collaboration right to users’ inboxes. Access to QI listservs has been a productive way for hospitalists to connect and benefit from the collective experience of the group; it’s a key component of the eQUIPS programs.
For Rogers, eQUIPS and its collaborative tools are a logistical extension of SHM’s successful QI track record. TH
Brendon Shank is assistant vice president of communications for SHM.