At its fall meeting, the AQA Alliance adopted 31 quality measuresfor practitioners in 25 surgical and medical specialties, bringing to80 the number of AQA-adopted measures being widely incorporated inprovider contracts and implemented in medical practice.
The measures build on those previously adopted for primary care,cardiology and cardiac surgery.
Originally known as the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance, thecoalition is now known as the AQA Alliance because its mission hasbroadened to incorporate all areas of physician practice. TheAmerican Academy of Family Physicians, the American College ofPhysicians, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Agency forHealthcare Research and Quality joined to lead an effort fordetermining how to improve performance measurement, data aggregationand reporting in ambulatory care settings.
Measures were proposed by and approved for use amongrheumatologists, clinical endocrinologists, dermatologists,ophthalmologists, neurologists, radiologists and the 20 surgicalspecialties and subspecialties that are members of the SurgicalQuality Alliance.
In addition, a survey to measure patient satisfaction withindividual physicians and groups was adopted.
A complete list of AQA-adopted measures and their specificationscan be found at www.aqaalliance.org.
AQA is a national coalition of 150 organizations working togetheron a strategy to measure, report on and improve physician practice.AQA's members represent dozens of physician specialties, consumergroups, employers, government, health insurance plans and accreditingand quality groups.
AQA's role is to reach consensus and facilitate the widespreadimplementation of standard measures that have been through the reviewprocess of the National Quality Forum. These are measures that aredeveloped by organizations such as the AMA-convened PhysicianConsortium for Performance Improvement and the National Committee forQuality Assurance.
At the same time, progress is being made at six initial sites of apilot project announced earlier this year that combines public sectorand private sector data to measure and report about physicianpractice in a clear, useful and transparent way for consumers andpurchasers of health care, as well as for practicing physicians.
The AQA pilot, which is testing approaches to aggregating andreporting data about physician performance, will report publicly in2007.
The pilot project is a foundation for the transparency initiativeannounced recently by the U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices, and it will be expanded in a way that will create anational infrastructure for local measurement and reporting of data.
'The work of the AQA Alliance - building a strategy to measure,report on and improve physician performance - is fundamental to allthe major quality goals for our health care system, and it continuesto gain momentum and move forward,' said Carolyn Clancy, director ofthe Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
While physicians work to deliver high quality care, there has notbeen sufficient data to help them identify areas that needimprovement.
Until recently, the measuring and reporting of performance at thephysician level has been conducted piecemeal. Physicians withpatients covered by various public and private programs have theirperformance measured separately, often against different sets ofmeasures. The work of the AQA Alliance is designed to overcome thisroadblock.
Previously, private and public sector groups have attempted tostep up to the challenge of designing models for assessingperformance and reporting data. Yet, the proliferation of multiple,uncoordinated and sometimes conflicting initiatives has significantunintended consequences for different stakeholders.
Centura Health at Home wins care award
Centura Health at Home, a part of Centura Health, Colorado'slargest health care provider, was recognized as one of the 2006HomeCare Elite in the October issue of OCS, a post-acute health careinformation publication.
The review, conducted by OCS using publicly available information,ranked home health care agencies based on quality, improvement andfinancial performance measures. The listing represents the top 25percent of the most successful home care providers in the UnitedStates.
Centura Health at Home provides home care nursing and therapy,home and residential hospice, home infusion, oxygen services and homemedical equipment throughout Colorado. The organization provides careto more than 20,000 patients each year and has locations in Denver,Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Durango.
Multiple Sclerosis workshops scheduled
A series of workshops is being held at the Multiple SclerosisAlliance of Southern Colorado.
Targeted to people living with MS, as well as their families andfriends, the next workshop, 'An Update on Medicare Part D' isscheduled for Nov. 29. Barbara Giddings, an educator for apharmaceutical company, will discuss changes in Medicare Part D andprovide information about how to change providers.
'An Overview of Current Medications Prescribed for the Managementof MS' will be held Dec. 6.
The seminars are from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Pikes Peak Partnership/MSA offices, 2377 N. Academy. Seating is limited and reservations arerequired. Call 633-4601, extension 101.
