Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Strategies to Optimize your Practice. Version 1.0.

摘要

The quest to use health information technology (IT), specifically EHRs, to improve the quality of health care throughout the health care delivery continuum is a consistent goal of health care providers, national and local policymakers, and health IT developers. The seminal Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (IOM, 2001), was a call for all health care organizations to renew their focus on improving the quality and safety of patient care in all health care delivery settings. Since the IOM report, the health care industry has emphasized the design and implementation of health IT that supports quality improvement (QI) and quality monitoring mechanisms in all levels of the health care delivery system. Many QI strategies currently used in health care, including Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), have been adopted from other industries that have effectively used QI techniques to improve the efficiency and quality of their goods and services. Experience and research have shown that CQI principles, strategies, and techniques are critical drivers of new care models such as Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs) or Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). As practice leaders and staff learn more about CQI strategies and identify what works best for the desired type and level of changes in the practice setting (i.e., moving from the current state to the desired future state), they will recognize the value in designing an EHR implementation to meet both the Meaningful Use requirements and their own QI goals.