As we readied ourselves for next week’s visit to HIMSS, we took time out to have dinner with some folks from a Louisiana MEDITECH hospital.

Reports of a major snowstorm had our four dinner guests somewhat concerned with the possibility of being trapped in Canton, Massachusetts, and the conversation moved to their firsthand experiences with Katrina and the harrowing days after the storm.

A day after the hurricane had hit, according to the group, it was clear that a natural disaster had become a public health nightmare. Each of our dinner guests (all nurses by training) had, of course, immediately returned to the ER to help directly with the wounded, the frail, and the frightened. Their stories of the mayhem in the streets of New Orleans — and of the heroics of their fellow hospital staff — reminded us of the meaning of medicine and the purpose of the medical profession: to provide aid and comfort to the sick and dispossessed, however possible, whatever way may be best.

It was clear from the discussion that Katrina’s disruptive impact continues; less visible certainly, but no less destructive.

If you can, spend some time in and around downtown New Orleans. This advice from a friend, a New Orleans native: “I always encourage people who visit to get out of the Downtown area to see the devastation. It's a grisly concept, but important for people to understand the magnitude of the devastation. A tour will put everything into perspective.”

She continues, “I’m always eager to share any info on opportunities to help out those still struggling from Katrina’s wrath. Generally, I might try to suggest organizations that are pertinent to those who might be willing to help. Consider helping Hands on New Orleans. Well known and effective, they organize long term rebuilding efforts through house, street and park cleanup efforts and support of local non-profits (food bank and animal shelters).”

Thank you for your consideration.

All the best,

John H. Knowles, Jr.
Executive Director
jknowles@healthmetrics.org

Credentialing and Privileging:
A Review of the New Standards

Choosing who to credential — and for what privileges — are the most important decisions hospital administrators make to ensure quality care. But do they have the information they need to choose wisely? In the eyes of the Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations), the answer is no. Robert Wise, vice president of the JC’s Division of Standards and Survey Methods, argues that common practices in credentialing and privileging are too narrow in scope; they don't consider how practitioners work in a team, he says, nor to they reflect current realities in medical care, such as practitioners performing new skills after residency that aren’t part of their specialty training.

For these reasons and more, the Joint Commission on January 1, 2007 introduced its new credentialing and privileging standards, aiming to foster more evidence-based selections. Described in Sections 4.00 to 4.45 of the Joint Commission's Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals: The Official Handbook, the standards alter the landscape in key ways. Gone are the days when new privileges could be awarded solely based on a peer’s recommendation. The Joint Commission now wants hospitals to add “focused reviews” of an applicant’s daily work habits. What’s more, the standards call for more frequent performance evaluations, beyond those already required every two years for re-privileging. Read More...

Hospitals Meeting the Challenge

To enhance care, the Joint Commission’s new standards push data management limits at hospitals around the country. To comply with the standards, they’ll have to compare performance indicators against a variety of benchmarks that might trigger more detailed reviews. Hospitals will also have to make those comparisons quickly and reliably. But taken in isolation, the patient record systems used at many hospitals today don’t allow those types of analyses to be easily made. “We generally have to take our reports and download them to spreadsheets so we can manipulate the data,” Burzynski explains. “And for the most part, those data are neither current nor continuous, so we’re always behind the eight ball.”

IHM is now working to help its member hospitals overcome these problems. The Physician Quality Management System (PQMS), an IHM data analysis tool, extracts performance data and compares it to internal, regional, and national benchmarks. Those comparisons are then made available in IHM’s monthly reports. “It’s getting the data out into a more user-friendly format,” Burzynksi says. Read More...

Dinner in New Orleans?

We’ve been asked for our recommendations for dinner in New Orleans. You can't go wrong with any of the following three:

• August, fine dining near the convention center
• Jacques-Imo's, uptown casual, but great fun
• ACME Oyster Bar, in the French Quarter, formerly owned by a friend’s family — outstanding

You heard it here...enjoy! And please do visit with us at the MEDITECH booth. AG, Jim and Jeff will be presenting at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside and have a little room left on the schedule.

About Us

The Institute for Health Metrics is a privately funded not-for-profit organization focused on developing an electronic data analytics system to support quality and operational improvement in hospitals and research in public health and healthcare services.

As a central component of its mission, IHM works with a network of leading hospitals and researchers to organize and analyze health information as part of a variety of programs to support quality of care research, measurement, and improvement. We are a trusted intermediary among hospitals who are our business associates in compliance with applicable HIPAA regulations.