Virginia Hospital Quality Improvement Opportunity

The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association is working with Virginia Health Information (VHI) in support of a contract proposal to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The contract proposal is to develop a method to improve the Virginia’s patient level data system’s ability to predict and evaluate mortality and other outcomes of care.

VHHA is working with VHI to identify hospitals willing to participate in this contract should it be awarded. Hospitals participating in this effort would agree to work with VHI to expand the patient level data system to include at a minimum:

• the Present on Admission identifier (currently required by CMS effective in October of this year) and at least one of the following types of clinical data:
• laboratory results, which are readily available electronically in most hospitals; and
• clinical data elements that may be accessible only for hospitals with EMRs, e.g. vital signs, culture results.

VHI will work with participants to identify the data elements to be collected and develop enhanced quality reports for hospital internal use. If the effort is expanded statewide the information may be used to enhance statewide public reporting.

This information is not expected to be sent as part of the normal quarterly submissions of data to VHI. VHI will merge this information with patient level data using identifiers already found in the patient level data system such as admit/discharge date, medical record number, and related fields. Data submission would not begin until at least first quarter of 2008 depending on when the contract is executed and capability of hospitals to provide this information.

VHHA and VHI view this effort as a potential method to enhance the patient level data system for measurement and improvement of the quality of care. Benefits to hospitals participating in the pilot will include hospital influence in the development process, including information collected, enhanced quality information for internal use, and an early opportunity to use this information to improve care.

To learn more about participating in this effort please contact Michael Lundberg, VHI at 804 644-7026 michael@vhi.org or Barbara Brown at 804 965-5722 bbrown@vhha.com by July 9, 2007. A copy of the RFP may be found at www.vhi.org/AHRQRFP.