Quality improvement basics
What is Quality Improvement?
Quality Improvement (QI) consists of systematic and continuous actions that lead to measurable improvement in health care services and the health status of targeted patient groups1. The Institute of Medicine identifies six dimensions of health care quality that can be used as aims for improvement.2
Care should be:
Safe. Avoiding harm to patients from the care that is intended to help them.
Effective. Providing services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit and refraining from providing services to those not likely to benefit (avoiding underuse and misuse, respectively).
Patient-centered. Providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions.
Timely. Reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receive and those who give care.
Efficient. Avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy.
Equitable. Providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status.
Why is Quality Improvement important for dermatology?
The opportunity for improved processes and outcomes in the care of dermatology patients.
The opportunity to increase patient safety and reduce patient harm.
Regulatory requirements are forcing physicians to find cost effective ways to provide care and quality improvement can help physicians achieve this objective.
Insurance companies and other payors require that physicians commit to quality and reimbursement is increasing tied to the performance of the dermatologist.
Patients are more informed of physician performance and quality improvement efforts and when seeking care, they use this information to compare and select a dermatologist. A dermatologist committed to quality improvement is an attractive attribute.
Quality improvement resources
Features 10 tools needed to launch and manage quality improvement in your practice, including Cause and Effect Diagram and Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles.
Tools to address QI and performance management assessments, infrastructure, and skills.
Features modules of proven strategies that can improve practice efficiency and help practices achieve the Quadruple Aim — better patient experience, better population health and lower overall costs with improved professional satisfaction
Features an evidenced based training curriculum and materials to optimize patient safety and care by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals, including frontline staff.
Learn why quality measures are important, for reporting but also to support quality innovation.
Sources
1U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration. Quality Improvement. April 2011.
2Institute of Medicine (IOM). Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press; 2001.
