ABQAURP News
November / December 2012
Patient Centeredness vs. Measurable Quality of Care — The Next Quality Conundrum?
I have been a big fan of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) since their 1999 groundbreaking report, To Err Is Human, forced me to confront my own beliefs about our health care system and myself as a physician. Therefore, I was eager to review the recent IOM publication, Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America, a consensus report published in September 2012. This presentation reprised the ongoing failings of the U.S. health care system and proposed a series of 10 recommendations organized in three general categories to improve quality through creating continuously learning organizations. Areas to address include: Foundational Elements, which includes digital infrastructure and data utility recommendations; Care Improvement Targets, which includes clinical decision support, patient centered care, community links, care continuity, and optimized operations; and finally, Supportive Policy Environment, which discusses financial incentives, performance transparency, and broad leadership. Read on its own, the report is reasonable and actionable.
Less than a year earlier, Penguin Press published Your Medical Mind, written by Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband. These authors note, “The path to maintaining or regaining health is not the same for everyone,” and, “Medicine involves nuanced and personalized decision making by both the patient and the doctor.” Daniel J. Levitin, who wrote the book review for The New York Times, comments that he “suspects insurance companies, HMOs, and more than a few doctors are going to hate this book.” Why?
Clinical decision support requires a value set for its definition. If individual patients define those values, how can universally adapted clinical decision support exist?
If patient-centered care and transparency mean patients can select the care they want when they want it, who pays for that care? What happens when patients cannot afford to pay for the care that they think they need? Are the provisions of preventive care and the implementation of public health inappropriate cornerstones of health care improvement efforts because they do not recognize or value individual patient autonomy?
When the IOM recommends the development of financial incentives for providers and payers to provide high quality care at an affordable price, how does that take into account paying for the individual preferences of patients?
So, I’m confused. Is patient-centeredness the newest quality conundrum because we no longer know how to define quality?
Reference: Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America, found at: www.iom.edu/BestCare.
Please send inquiries and comments to rwillog@abqaurp.org, please include
Quality Column in the subject line.
We look forward to your participation in this new column.
HCQM Board Certificatio
When deciding on a credential, you want the best, most comprehensive certification that covers the entire health care quality continuum. Choose the provider with the experience that has come to define the field of Health Care Quality and Management.
Those certified in HCQM set themselves apart from the crowd and are distinguished by superior skills; balancing appropriateness of services with cost and quality. They are not just better care providers, they are quality leaders!
ABQAURP would like to congratulate all of our new Diplomates that achieved HCQM Certification in 2012! We are honored to welcome you and look forward to your participation in ABQAURP’s membership organization!
We are now accepting applications for the 2013 Board Certification Exam Window. Please call Barbara Chalmers at: (800) 998-6030, extension 116, or visit our website (www.abqaurp.org) for more information.
Visit the website at www.abqaurp.org and choose Certification for more information.
Become an ABQAURP Fellow!
ABQAURP is pleased to announce our new Fellowship Program.
HCQM-certified Diplomates will automatically be recognized as Fellows upon the completion of five consecutive years as a Diplomate. All dues, education, and membership requirements must be correctly maintained to be eligible for Fellowship. Fellows of ABQAURP may use the designation of FABQAURP to distinguish themselves among their peers and may do so as long as their Diplomate Status has not been terminated. Eligibility will be determined annually in January.
HCQM Board Certification attests to your competence and continued commitment to health care quality. Inclusion in this Fellowship demonstrates the core mission and goals of our association and signifies our shared commitment to a safer, more efficient, and cost-effective health system that better satisfies the needs of patients, providers, purchasers, and payers.
Is Your Medical Education Accredited?
ABQAURP welcomes applications for joint sponsorship of educational activities for continuing education credit. ABQAURP accredits a variety of activities, including:
- Live Activity
- Internet Activity Live
- Enduring Material
- Internet Activity Enduring Material
- Journal-Based CME
- Performance Improvement
ABQAURP is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians and is accredited by the Florida Board of Nursing to sponsor nursing contact hours. As an accredited provider, ABQAURP is here to work with each joint sponsor organization to ensure the accreditation process runs as smoothly as possible. Benefits of working with ABQAURP include: one-on-one assistance, on-site assistance, contact for speakers and commercial supporters, evaluation compilation, one-time mailing list to drive attendance, website placement, and advertising in Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare magazine.
For more information, please call Deborah Naser at (800) 998-6030, ext. 118.
New Transitions of Care Sub-Specialty Certification
ABQAURP and the Case Management Society of America (CMSA) have announced a joint collaboration to create a sub-specialty Certification for Transitions of Care (TOC). The new sub-specialty certification is a part of the specialized credentials available through the Health Care Quality and Management (HCQM) Board Certification. In recognizing the importance of transitions of care, this new credential is the first one to support professionals not only as a team, but also as individuals who demonstrate competence and skills in providing the key elements of transitions of care.
The Transitions of Care sub-specialty is available to new exam candidates and current Diplomates to add to their Quality Designations. Apply Now!
To support the sub-specialty, a new Transitions of Care online course is now available! Earn three hours towards the educational requirement, more information is available at: www.abqaurp.org.
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