AHCA picks PointRight metric for group's quality initiative
The American Health Care Association will incorporate PointRight's OnPoint-30 methodology of calculating case-mix adjusted hospitalization metric into its national quality initiative, both organizations announced.“The partnership with PointRight will help give our members access to the right information to make a difference in their performance,” said AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson.
“As we continue to strive to meet the goals of the AHCA Quality Initiative, PointRight's OnPoint-30 risk-adjusted hospital readmission measure is an important tool to help us build the foundation for a professional benchmark,” he added.
PointRight combines Minimum Data Set 3.0 data and unique analytics to calculate case-mix adjusted hospital readmission rates. The information can help providers differentiate between areas of excellence and improvement opportunities, according to Steven Littlehale, executive vice president and chief clinical officer with PointRight.
“Having access to the right information is the first step in making solid, quality improving decisions,” Littlehale added.
“These analyses help skilled nursing centers focus on improving care for their residents. They also help centers demonstrate their value to hospitals, insurers and physician groups,” said David Gifford, M.D., Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at AHCA. “Having timely, risk-adjusted information is key for our members, so they know how they are performing compared to others and how effective their efforts are in preventing hospital readmissions from occurring.”
Launched earlier this year, the AHCA Quality Initiative is an effort that builds upon the existing work in the long-term and post-acute care field by setting specific, measurable targets to further improve the quality of care in skilled nursing centers. AHCA members goals include safely reducing hospital readmissions within 30 days during a SNF stay by 15% by March 2015.
