Benchmark Blog

The Benchmark  blog features breaking news and insight from Mary Aviles, Senior Editor of The Joint Commission Benchmark and also provides readers with a free, online forum to share opinions and comments on areas of performance measurement and improvement.  Check back frequently for updates and additional information you won’t find in the newsletter.



Subscribe toThe Joint Commission Benchmark 

Learn About Accountability Measures

• 9/16/2011
• Author: Maria Aviles
• 702 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

In June 2010, The Joint Commission ushered in a new era of performance measurement with the development of accountability measures. Although in the past The Joint Commission has emphasized the need for measures that are tied to a health care organization’s performance, the accountability measures initiative takes this concept to a new level by requiring hospitals to att... more >>

2011 Ambulatory Breakfast Briefings Webinar/Audio Conference Series

• 7/7/2011
• Author: Maria Aviles
• 553 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The nine-week 2011 Ambulatory Breakfast Briefings Webinar/Audio Conference Series begins September 7, 2011. Each week, Joint Commission experts will cover the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Ambulatory Care one chapter at a time, providing both a formal presentation and a moderated Q&A session. Performance measurement professionals may be particularly interested in the discussion of... more >>

The July/August issue of Benchmark is now available

• 6/22/2011
• Author: Maria Aviles
• 726 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Contents Health Reform News National Quality Strategy: Setting the Agenda for Health Care Reform The National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care was released in March 2011 with the goal of establishing national aims and priorities to improve the quality of health care in the United States. The strategy outlines three broad goa... more >>

Don’t Miss the Joint Commission Annual Conference on Quality and Patient Safety

• 5/20/2011
• Author: Maria Aviles
• 472 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

You can still register for the Joint Commission Annual Conference on Quality and Patient Safety, “Come Together – A Gathering of Leading Ideas in Quality and Safety,” which will be held June 8–10 in Chicago. Faculty will provide best practices, solutions, obstacles for overcoming challenges, and tools for implementing solutions in all areas of health care, including performance measurement. Pr... more >>

A New Benchmark

• 3/8/2011
• Author: Maria Aviles
• 1059 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The world of health care performance measurement is experiencing a period of great transformation, innovation, and evolution. The stakes are enormous—high-quality, safe patient care that is grounded on scientific evidence, rigorously tested and evaluated using consensus-driven performance measures, based on performance improvement principles, and delivered in an efficient and value-driven fash... more >>

Welcome Back to Benchmark!

• 11/22/2010
• Author: Maria Aviles
• 1618 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Welcome back to the Benchmark blog! After a brief hiatus, the blog will be returning to its normal bi-weekly schedule to bring you the latest and greatest in the world of performance measurement. My name is Mary Aviles, and I am the new editor for Benchmark. I am pleased to be able to bring you the most-up-to-date and important news and information you need to meet your performance measurem... more >>

The Changing of the Guard

• 9/23/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 4206 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Not all of us like change, but change is imminent nonetheless. For the past three years it has been my pleasure to serve as senior editor for The Joint Commission Benchmark. Now I am transitioning to a new role as executive editor for The Joint Commission Perspectives and must hand my Benchmark duties to someone new. Don’t worry; I’m leaving you in very capable hands.Your new senior edit... more >>

Center for Transforming Healthcare Releases Targeted Solutions Tool

• 8/31/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 5797 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

How can Six Sigma help to stop the spread of health-care associated infections? If you have heard about The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, you may also have heard that the Center is doing some interesting and innovative things using Lean, Six Sigma, and Robust Process Improvement ideologies. These performance improvement methods can be used to help solve some of health ca... more >>

Study Finds Medical Errors Cost United States Billions

• 8/25/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 5672 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Medical errors cost the United States billions of dollars in 2008 according to a new study commissioned by the Society of Actuaries (SOA).  The study’s findings, based on claims data, estimate that medical errors cost the U.S. economy $19.5 billion in both direct costs paid out as insurance claims, and indirect costs, such as lost worker productivity. In addition, of the approximately $80 ... more >>

One State Takes Steps to Improve Surgical Care

• 8/18/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 5300 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Several Florida hospitals have helped launch an initiative to improve patient safety and the quality of surgical care while reducing costs throughout the state. The Florida Surgical Care Initiative (FSCI), a joint venture of the Florida Hospital Association, the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and the ACS Florida chapter, is a statewide collaboration focusing on reducing surgical complicat... more >>

ACOG Issues Less Restrictive VBAC Guidelines

• 8/10/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 6089 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Attempting a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) is a safe and appropriate choice for most women who have had a prior cesarean delivery—including for some women who have had two previous cesareans—according to guidelines released by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Note: The Joint Commission’s Perinatal Care Core Measure Set, part of the National Quality Core Mea... more >>

Pediatric ICU Eliminates Central-Line Infections for Entire Year

• 7/30/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 6468 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

When it comes to performance improvement, you can’t get much better than bringing a count to zero. The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center (formerly Schneider Children’s Hospital of North Shore) in New York has done just that by going an entire year without a central-line infection in its pediatric intensive care unit, as reported by Quality Digest.After various studies and me... more >>

Final Rules Supporting ‘Meaningful Use’ of Electronic Health Records Announced

• 7/23/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 6757 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Over a series of five articles (see articles in the January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, and September/October 2010 issues) Benchmark has discussed electronic health records (EHRs) and their “meaningful use.” This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced final rules to help improve Americans’ health, increase safety and reduce health care costs through ... more >>

New AHRQ tool to help hospitals better display quality data

• 7/16/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 7269 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) has released a new tool for hospital administrative or claims data. MONAHRQ (My Own Network, Powered by AHRQ) is a free software program built to allow organizations to analyze data and/or create their own Web sites. The AHRQ released MONAHRQ in early June in hopes that organizations, including individual hospitals, hospital associatio... more >>

Want to Be in Benchmark?

• 7/12/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 7170 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Would you like to see your organization featured in Benchmark newsletter? The planning for 2011 has begun and we would love to read your case studies. If your organization has conducted a study or been part of a performance measurement project that led to significant improvements, let us know. E-mail us at benchmark@jcrinc.com and tell us about your organization’s successes. more >>

The Race is on for the Baldrige Award

• 7/1/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 7829 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Eighty-three organizations (including 54 health care organizations) are competing for the 2010 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the United States’ highest recognition for organizational performance excellence through innovation and improvement. The number of applicants is up 20% over 2009 and marks the fifth consecutive year that there have been 70 or more organizations seeking the awa... more >>

Joint Commission Helps Hospitals Meet Future Performance Measurement Expectations

• 6/25/2010
• Author: Meghan Anderson
• 8247 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

To help hospitals prepare for performance measurement in the new health care environment, The Joint Commission is categorizing its performance measures into accountability and non-accountability measures. This approach places more emphasis on an organization’s performance on accountability measures – quality measures that meet four criteria designed to identify measures that produce the greate... more >>

A Closer Look at Health Care Reform

• 6/18/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 8610 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Health care reform is just picking up momentum but some caregivers are still in the dark regarding what it means specifically for their organizations, especially when it comes to quality- and performance-improvement matters.  Princeton, New Jersey–based Mathematica Policy Research has developed an informative six-part series of briefs focusing on federal and state efforts to establish medi... more >>

Improving Safety Processes to Prevent Violence in Health Care Organizations

• 6/10/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 9077 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Health care organizations should be a place of healing, not violence, and The Joint Commission has issued a warning calling for process improvements to keep patients and staff safer. The newest Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert warns that health care organizations today are being confronted with steadily increasing rates of crime, including assault, rape and murder. To improve safety in... more >>

New Analysis Predicts Decreases in Uninsured, Federal Government Covering Costs

• 6/7/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 8968 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The expansion of Medicaid under the new health reform law will significantly increase the number of people covered by the program and markedly reduce the uninsured in states across the country, with the federal government picking up the majority of the cost, according to a state-by-state analysis released by the Washington, D.C.-based Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the U... more >>

AHRQ: Bar-code eMAR Reduces Medication Use, Transcription Errors

• 5/21/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 10612 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

  Using bar-code technology with an electronic medication administration record (eMAR) substantially reduces transcription and medication administration errors, as well as potential drug-related adverse events, says a new study funded by the Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The study was published in the May 6 issue of the N... more >>

ASQ Asks: “H1N1: What Have We Learned?”

• 5/17/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 9631 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Amid H1N1 concerns and shrinking budgets, U.S. public health departments face tough challenges. At the top of the list are fewer resources to ensure that residents get vaccinations and other services in a timely fashion. But more agencies are finding a prescription for improved efficiency and public safety with the help of process improvement methods, according to the Milwaukee-based American ... more >>

Patient Safety in the United States Still Needs Improvement

• 5/7/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 10874 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Improvements in patient safety continue to move slowly, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ)2009 National Healthcare Quality Report and the 2009 National Healthcare Disparities Report. The Quality Report states that little progress has been made on eliminating health care-associated infections (HAIs). For example, of the five types of HAIs in adult patients w... more >>

Is the United States Facing a Physician Shortage?

• 4/29/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 11283 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal warns that due to the health care law passed in March, there won’t be enough physicians to cover the newly insured. The article also reports that the United States could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 physicians in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMA). This shortfall is expected despite teaching h... more >>

Joint Commission to Offer Monograph on Tdap Vaccinations

• 4/21/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 11729 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

In an effort to help health care organizations implement or improve tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination programs for patients and health care workers, The Joint Commission will release a monograph in late 2010 that will include information on the following: • Discussion of the impact of pertussis, especially on infants and young children • A review of the morbidity a... more >>

U.S. Agencies Plan to Share More Performance Measurement Data

• 4/16/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 11849 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Data transparency is finally having its day. The Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a public Web site tracking its spending on hospital Medicare patients for the most-treated illnesses and conditions. It is one of the efforts by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department to become more transparent and publish some of its data for public view and analysis. HHS de... more >>

Joint Commission Calls for Performance Measures on Sudden Cardiac Arrest

• 3/31/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 12773 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Want to share your performance measures on sudden cardiac arrest with other organizations? The Joint Commission has initiated a project to identify, develop, and test a set of standardized performance measures to assess inpatient and emergency department care of patients with sudden cardiac arrest.  The Joint Commission is soliciting candidate performance measures for review and evaluation by ... more >>

Call for Submissions for the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award

• 3/18/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 13252 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Showcase your important patient safety and quality work—whether it’s related to performance measurement and improvement or not—by applying for a 2010 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award. The Eisenberg Award recognizes major achievements of individuals and organizations in improving patient safety and health care quality. Annual awards are given in the following cat... more >>

A Voice from the Field

• 3/11/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 13905 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I try as much as I can in Benchmark to include columns from those in The Joint Commission who know the real scoop on performance measurement and improvement. In the May/June issue, I will include a column from Jerod M. Loeb, Ph.D., executive vice president, Division of Quality Measurement and Research. It’s called “Performance Measurement: The Good, Bad, and The Ugly,” so you know he’s g... more >>

Professional Interpreters Increase Patient Satisfaction

• 3/6/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 14274 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Mathematica Policy Researchers asked the question, “Does using professionally trained interpreters in the emergency department (ED) increase patient satisfaction?” Up until now, research on this topic has been sparse, so Mathematica conducted its own study using random assignment to compare the reported satisfaction of patients and providers during 424 ED visits, roughly half of which included... more >>

Does Pay For Performance Impact Low Performing Physicians?

• 2/25/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 14016 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Most of us have heard of pay-for-performance (P4P) programs and are familiar with their impact on high-performing physicians – they are obviously recognized for their hard work. But do these programs help motivate low-performing physicians? The short answer is yes. A number of studies have come out recently stating that P4P works to boost low-performing physicians and turn their performance ar... more >>

Tell Us Your Success Stories

• 2/18/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 13363 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

In each issue of The Joint Commission Benchmark, I try to highlight organizations that have success stories in the areas of performance improvement and measurement. Have you had success with The Joint Commission’s S3 system? Have you made improvements in your organization because of a measurement you used? Is there anything you’re doing in your organization that you think can be replicated in ... more >>

What Does Health Care Reform Mean for You?

• 2/11/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 13858 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I read an interesting article on the Quality Digest Web site titled “What Will Health Care Reform Mean for the Health Care Quality Professional?” The article was structured in a question–and-answer format, with the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Maulik Joshi, M.D., president of AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust and Nancy Foster, AHA’s vice president of quality and patient sa... more >>

Preventing Deaths During and After Pregnancy

• 2/4/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 14462 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

A new Sentinel Event Alert from The Joint Commission reminds us that women and infants dying during childbirth is still a significant patient safety issue that deserves our attention.The Alert comes as federal and state governments are increasing efforts to identify causes and prevent maternal deaths. The current statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Preve... more >>

Take Two Aspirin and Go Away

• 1/21/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 14726 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

In 2007,  I edited a book for Joint Commission Resources titled, Defusing Disruptive Behavior: A Workbook for Leaders. The book focused on physicians behaving badly and treating those around them poorly. Some interesting studies were cited regarding how physicians behaved and how that might affect patient care. A new study along those lines done by researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University... more >>

Welcome to the Future

• 1/5/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 16175 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Welcome to 2010. Another year brings a new set of challenges and adventures. And with those challenges comes electronic health record (EHR) reform. It reminds me of playing hide-and-seek as a child, ready or not, here they come. And some organizations report they aren’t yet ready. A small survey of 58 various-sized hospitals conducted by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Falls Church, VA... more >>

Data Mining or Snooping for Cash?

• 12/21/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 16746 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I read an interesting article in the LA Times this week. In this blog, I’ve spoken about Web sites and companies using data to plot flu outbreaks and epidemics, using data to plot health care trends, and so on. However, this story in the Times brings about some interesting legal (and maybe even ethical) dilemmas. Pharmaceutical companies are now using prescription data to find out wh... more >>

Electronic Health Records: What’s Your Opinion?

• 12/4/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 17325 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I’m beginning research on a book set to publish in mid-2010 on electronic health records (or EHRs). I’m learning all kinds of interesting information about their impact on performance improvement, patient safety, and so on. Having EHRs sounds like a fantastic idea, and I happen to have a physician who is part of a health care system that uses them (which makes being a patient there quite easy)... more >>

Don't Forget Employee Morale

• 11/20/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 18394 Views
• 2 Comments
• Read More

My husband is a video game fanatic. The other day, the sequel to his favorite video game was released, and the game store opened at midnight in order to give customers a chance to pick up their copies. It was something interesting to see. The store opened and while the employees might not have been excited to be working at midnight, the company made it worth their while. The store had a ... more >>

The State of Health Care Quality

• 11/13/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 18755 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The State of Health Care Quality 2009, an annual report provided by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, finds that the quality of U.S. health care was nearly stagnant in 2008. This was seen as a slow down after a decade of improvements. The down turning trend was seen in care provided both to people with private insurance coverage as well as with Medicare and Medicaid. The repo... more >>

Measuring Performance: Count the Ways

• 11/5/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 19327 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

We all know performance measurement is a must. The challenge is finding new and inventive ways to collect data. I recently was solicited for two surveys: one was a regular paper survey mailed to me from a hospital regarding my recent stay and the other was a telephone survey regarding an appliance I had delivered to my home. I participated in the hospital survey because I understand their need... more >>

The Importance of High-Quality Care

• 10/29/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 19940 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

You might have noticed my hiatus from this blog for a few weeks. I wish I could say I was on a European vacation but the truth is, I broke one ankle and sprained the other with a “graceful” fall in my garage. This landed me in the surgical suite of a local hospital. The care at this hospital could not have been better. The nurses were extremely attentive and there was no waiting for days to ha... more >>

AHRQ Researches E-Prescribing Practices

• 10/14/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 20463 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) plans to collect information from physicians and pharmacies that electronically transmit prescriptions in the hope of identifying what helps and what hinders the adoption of e-prescribing. AHRQ will interview physicians, medical directors, information technology administrators, pharmacists, and others at 110 organizations over two years... more >>

Yep, There’s an App for That

• 9/22/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 20825 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I guess you can file this under measurement (or just plain cool). There’s a new application for the ever-popular iPhone that will tell you exactly where there is a disease outbreak near you, according to an article on Wired’s Web site. To read the full article, click here.Outbreaks Near Me is an application for the iPhone based on the free HealthMap epidemiological Web service, which allow... more >>

Go Ahead, Convenient Care is Nothing to Fear

• 9/10/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 22365 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I’ve never actually been to a retail medical clinic but I’ve driven past many. They are becoming quite common these days. The clinics are becoming popular due to their prices and convenience and can provide care comparable to that offered in physicians' offices, urgent care centers, or emergency departments, according to two studies in the September issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.However... more >>

NQF Endorses Measures to Improve Medication Safety and Quality

• 9/3/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 23404 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

To improve the quality and safety of medication use in the United States, the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed 18 measures for managing over-the-counter and prescription medications. The 18 measures assess prescribing and use of appropriate medications and medication adherence, reconciliation, and monitoring.  The measures are among the first to be endorsed for medication management and h... more >>

Smoke-Free Hospital Campuses: What’s the Performance Improvement Link?

• 8/27/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 22538 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

“The Adoption of Smoke-Free Hospital Campuses in the United States,” a new study by The Joint Commission, projects that the majority of U.S. hospitals will have smoke-free campuses by the end of 2009. By February 2008, more than 45% of U.S. hospitals had adopted a smoke-free campus policy and an additional 15% of hospitals reported actively pursuing the adoption of  smoke-free campus policies.... more >>

How Do You Choose A Health Care Provider?

• 8/21/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 23020 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I read an interesting column the other day called “You Can Lead Patients to Quality Data, But Will They Use It” discussing how, despite the wealth of data out there regarding physicians, hospitals, and other health care organizations, most people still rely on referrals from family, friends, or physicians when choosing a new provider. I admit I’m sometimes guilty of this myself. Obviously, those o... more >>

New Report Gives Examples of Pathways for Translating Results into Action

• 8/12/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 23497 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Findings from well-conducted health research may help policymakers improve health care delivery, control costs, and enhance quality of care. However, few studies examine how this occurs and the processes involved. A recently released report from Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, D.C., presents seven case studies illustrating examples of various ways research findings have been moved to po... more >>

A Penny for Your Thoughts

• 8/6/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 23537 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Here in the publishing world, I’m beginning to plan Benchmark’s issues for 2010 (I know, it seems far away for most of you but for me it’s just around the corner). While I plan what you’ll read in the coming year, I’d like to have your input. What have we done a good job of reporting? What would you like to see more of? Let me know what’s on your mind. All suggestions and comments are welc... more >>

States Still Inconsistent with Health Care Quality

• 7/28/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 23733 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) annual release of state-by-state quality data continues to give mixed reviews for the quality of care that states provide. AHRQ's 2008 State Snapshots show that no state does well or poorly on all quality measures. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also releasing state-by-state reports on the health care status quo. Th... more >>

NQF Endorses New Practices for Labs

• 7/16/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 24195 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

To improve the safety of laboratory medicine, the National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed six preferred practices for measuring and reporting patient safety and communication in laboratory medicine. The practices focus specifically on improving quality within pre- and posttesting services and address the following:•    Laboratory leadership•    Patient specimen identification•    Sample acceptab... more >>

Electronic Medical Records and Your Organization

• 7/9/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 25559 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Under President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,  federal stimulus funds won’t become available for Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) until 2011, and specific guidelines for determining what constitutes a “qualified” system are as yet undertermined. What is your organization doing to adopt EMRs? Is there anyone out working completely from EMRs? What are some things you see critica... more >>

Come On Now, Get Those Flu Vaccinations

• 7/2/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 25166 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

When I worked for a health care organization in a former life, all employees had to be vaccinated for the flu. No questions asked. I didn’t like it, but that was the policy. Apparently, that isn’t the case everywhere.Last week, The Joint Commission released “Providing a Safer Environment for Health Care Personnel and Patients through Influenza Vaccination:  Strategies from Research and Practice,” ... more >>

White Paper Seeks Change in Behavioral Health Care

• 6/24/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 25242 Views
• 1 Comments
• Read More

  I just read a white paper called Consumer-Driven Outcomes Management: A New Paradigm for Quality and Efficiency Improvement in Behavioral health released by Danya International, Inc. in Silver Spring, Maryland. The paper said nothing but positive things about consumer outcomes management for behavioral health care.  Among the statistics that stood out was that total program costs were red... more >>

ORYX: Animal or Performance Measurement Initiative?

• 6/19/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 28875 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Most of you are familiar with The Joint Commission’s ORYX® initiative. The ORYX initiative integrates outcomes and other performance measurement data into the accreditation process. ORYX measurement requirements are intended to support Joint Commission-accredited organizations in their quality improvement efforts. As part of The Joint Commission’s accreditation process, Joint Commission surveyors ... more >>

Measuring Racial and Ethnic Disparities: How Could this Data Be Used to Improve Care?

• 6/15/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 25955 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

At what price do we collect data? And for what benefit?That’s what I wondered after seeing “Measuring Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: Efforts to Improve Data Collection,” a new policy brief from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. The brief examines recent federal and state activities aimed at strengthening the collection of health-related data on race, ethnicity, and primary language.... more >>

The Future is (Almost) Here

• 5/28/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 26885 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Mayo Clinic has unveiled an interesting new online tool called The Mayo Clinic Health Manager for health care consumers to store their personal medical record information free of charge. Based on Microsoft's HealthVault system, the service lets anyone--not just Mayo patients--store medical histories, test results, immunization records, appointment records, data from heart rate monitors and oth... more >>

Quality Recommendations Sent to Congress

• 5/14/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 27307 Views
• 1 Comments
• Read More

Stand for Quality, a coalition of more than 165 organizations from across the health care spectrum, recently announced a framework to improve the quality and affordability of health care for all patients through a public-private partnership described in six key recommendations. These recommendations were a nudge to Congress as part of President Obama’s health care reform.The six recommendations ar... more >>

What Happens to the Keywords You Just Typed in That Search Engine?

• 4/30/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 28032 Views
• 1 Comments
• Read More

When is the last time you used an online search engine to research a topic? Maybe your child had a rash and you searched for an idea of what could be causing it. Maybe you wanted to know what the weather is like in Kentucky. Have you ever searched for health information online? As Benchmark readers interested in all things data related, did you ever wonder what could be done with all that sear... more >>

New Quality Indicators and You

• 4/14/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 30322 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) conducted a “dry run” of reporting data for nine of the most recent Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicators and Inpatient Quality Indicators (read more here, including the full list of the indicators)The goal of the exercise was to familiarize hospitals with the AHRQ measures and their organi... more >>

So, What About Hospitalists?

• 4/2/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 29543 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

I’ve been working on a project with the Society of Hospital Medicine, so hospitalists have been on my mind quite a bit lately. As you probably know, physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners who focus primarily on hospital medicine are called hospitalists. The term "hospitalist" was coined by Robert Wachter, M.D., in 1996. (He also has a great blog on all things medicine). Hosp... more >>

Improving the Quality of Your Care

• 3/17/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 30241 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

While reading ABCNews.com the other day I came across an article titled, “Five Ways to Get Your Doctor to Listen to You.” This caught my attention because I just finished editing a book for Joint Commission Resources called Putting the CARE in Health Care. I also recently visited my family physician and (with the topic fresh in my brain) noticed what a great job he did of listening to my concerns ... more >>

It's award time again

• 3/11/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 30437 Views
• 0 Comments
• Read More

The Joint Commission recently issued a request for nominations for the 2009 Eisenberg Awards. Here’s your chance to get your organization recognized for its quality and patient safety efforts. The John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards were established in 2002 by the National Quality Forum (NQF) and The Joint Commission in memory of John M. Eisenberg, M.D. Eisenberg was the former dir... more >>

Another Year, Another Resource

• 3/5/2009
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 30890 Views
• 1 Comments
• Read More

Greetings! I’m Audrie Bretl, senior editor of The Joint Commission Benchmark. I’ve been waiting for a way to reach out to Benchmark’s readers and this New Year has given me an opportunity — this new blog. I’m hoping this will be the perfect way for you and me to get to know each other and share ideas regarding performance measurement and improvement. I also hope you’ll let me know ... more >>