Setting national priorities for quality assessment of health care services in Korea.

OBJECTIVE: To identify target services and determine national priorities among those services identified for a national quality assessment program of the Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA) in Korea. DESIGN: Target services were identified from published sources addressing quality problems, various quality-monitoring programs in other countries, suggestions from 26 medical specialty associations in Korea, and frequently reported consumer claims. Three steps were involved in the prioritization decision: (i) development of a set of priority criteria; (ii) expert panel survey to evaluate the extent to which individual services satisfy each of the priority criteria and to calculate mean priority ratings for individual services; and (iii) formation of four levels of priority groups-top, high-middle, middle, and low-according to the allocated priority ratings. RESULTS: Five priority criteria were selected: "burden of the condition", "seriousness of the quality problem", "interest and demand of society", "acceptability", and "the feasibility of quality assessment". Among the 57 services identified as targets for the national quality assessment program, 10 were selected as having a top priority for quality assessment because of their high feasibility rating. These are: cardiac surgery; cataract surgery; tonsillectomy; appendectomy; tooth extraction; usage of albumin/globulin products; treatments for hypertension, pneumonia, and acute upper respiratory infection; and services provided by clinical laboratory centers. CONCLUSION: The priority services identified from the studies will assist the HIRA in selecting target services and implementing the national assessment program.     

儿童保健系统管理质量保证体系的建立和运行

【目的】 建立质量保证体系,正确履行系统保健的问询检查、判断评估及保健指导等7大功能,为儿童提供规范、便捷、全面的保健服务。 【方法】 以系统保健过程为对象,以相关文件和规程为指南,对系统保健质量体系的构成要素进行分析,在此基础上,从运行主体、过程方法、支持条件和监测评估4个方面进行设计。 【结果】 建立了基于“测查-评价-指导”一体化及其相应支持要素的儿童保健系统管理质量保证体系,该体系涵盖了系统保健的全部关键质量控制点,解决了系统保健中的质量控制和执行规范的难点。 【结论】 建立儿童保健系统管理质量保证体系并遵照执行,是系统保健行之有效的质量管理手段。     

对我国城市健康养老评价指标体系的分析与思考

[目的]通过对《全球老年友好城市建设指南》(简称《指南》)和《“健康中国2030”规划纲要》(简称《纲要》)中的指标体系以及国内与城市健康养老评价指标体系相关的文献及资料进行分析、归纳和总结,为构建一套既符合国际标准又适应中国国情的城市健康养老评价指标体系提供借鉴。[方法]采用“老年友好城市、健康城市、康养城市、长寿之乡、指标”等作为关键词,基于中国知网、万方数据库,以及政府官网和国家卫生健康委员会网站等,搜索国内与城市健康养老评价指标相关的文献和资料。[结果]《指南》和《纲要》中的指标均涉及健康生活、健康服务和健康环境3个方面;同时,二者也存在一定的差异:《指南》侧重于从微观角度评价老年人群的住、行、环境、社会参与、尊重和包容、就业、信息交流和健康服务等8个方面;《纲要》则侧重于从宏观角度评价全体人群的健康水平、健康生活、健康服务与保障、健康环境和健康产业等5个方面。同时,通过对纳入的21篇文献的分析可知,我国有关老年友好城市评价指标体系构建的研究相对较少,尚未在全国范围内建立起一套系统完整的指标体系;现有的健康城市、康养城市和长寿之乡指标体系均基于我国国情构建,可以借鉴其中城市健康和养老方面的相关指标。[结论]未来在构建城市健康养老评价指标体系时,应以《指南》和《纲要》为指导,并结合我国既有的相关指标体系,该指标体系应该是科学全面的、既与国际接轨又符合中国国情需要的城市健康养老评价指标体系。     

Assessment of the quality of breast cancer care: a single institutional study from Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of operable breast cancer care in a tertiary care institution. DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of all breast cancer patients seen in our institution between 1995 and 2000. Data were abstracted from the charts of these patients. Indicators were based on an international consensus conference and other publications. SETTING: A tertiary care health care institution. MAIN MEASURES: We evaluated the charts and calculated the percentage for which the internationally accepted quality care indicators were followed during the continuum of care. We also reviewed the histopathological reports to evaluate conformation with the accepted indicators. RESULTS: Charts of 75 patients (four exclusions, three metastatic, and one male), diagnosed to have breast cancer during the study period were reviewed. Only 28 (37%) patients had triple assessment before a definitive surgical procedure. Pre-operative staging including a CT and bone scan was performed in 58 (77.3%). Among the 50 patients who had definite surgical intervention, the majority had mastectomy (44/50, 88%) whereas axillary dissection was performed in 46 (46/50, 92%). Estrogen and progesterone receptor status was reported in only four (4/50, 8%) and the exact tumor size in 24 (24/50, 48%) of the histopathological reports. Adjuvant chemotherapy was used in accordance with the international standards but radiotherapy was under-utilized. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that the quality of breast cancer care in this institution was below the accepted international standards. This study may be used to make interventions for improvement of quality in similar institutions all over the kingdom.     

Quality of primary health care in Saudi Arabia: a comprehensive review.

OBJECTIVES: Little is known about the quality of primary care in Saudi Arabia, despite the central role of primary care centers in Saudi health strategy. This study presents an overview of quality of primary care in Saudi Arabia, and identifies factors impeding the achievement of quality, with the aim of determining how the quality of Saudi primary care could be improved. METHOD: Using a systematic search strategy, data were extracted from the published literature on quality of care in Saudi primary care services, and on barriers to achieving high-quality care. RESULTS: Of the 128 studies initially identified, 31 met the inclusion criteria for the review. Studies identified were diverse in methodology and focus. Components of quality were reviewed in terms of access and effectiveness of both clinical and interpersonal care. Good access and effective care were reported for certain services including: immunization, maternal health care, and control of epidemic diseases. Poor access and effectiveness were reported for chronic disease management programs, prescribing patterns, health education, referral patterns, and some aspects of interpersonal care including those caused by language barriers. Several factors were identified as determining whether high-quality care was delivered. These included management and organizational factors, implementation of evidence-based practice, professional development, use of referrals to secondary care, and organizational culture. CONCLUSION: There is substantial variation in the quality of Saudi primary care services. In order to improve quality, there is a need to improve the management and organization of primary care services. Professional development strategies are also needed to improve the knowledge and skills of staff.     

Reducing health disparities: strategy planning and implementation in Israel's largest health care organization

Objective. To describe an organization‐wide disparity reduction strategy and to assess its success in quality improvement and reduction of gaps in health and health care. Study Setting. Clalit Health Services, Israel's largest non‐for‐profit insurer and provider serving 3.8 million persons. Study Design. Before and after design: quality assessment before and 12‐month postinitiation of the strategic plan. A composite weighted score of seven quality indicators, measuring attainment of diabetes, blood pressure, and lipid control, lack of anemia in infants, and performance of mammography, occult blood tests, and influenza vaccinations. Data Extraction Methods. Quality indicator scores, derived from Clalit's central data warehouse, based on data from electronic medical records. Principal Findings. Low‐performing clinics, of low‐socioeconomic and minority populations, were targeted for intervention. Twelve months after the initiation of the project continuous improvement was observed coupled with a reduction of 40 percent of the gap between disadvantaged clinics, serving ～10 percent of enrollees, and all other medium‐large clinics. Conclusion. The comprehensive strategy, following a quality improvement framework, with a top‐down top‐management incentives and monitoring, and a bottom‐up locally tailored interventions, approach, is showing promising results of overall quality improvement coupled with disparity reduction in key health and health care indicators.     

Development of a set of strategy-based system-level cancer care performance indicators in Ontario, Canada.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a set of scientifically sound and managerially useful system-level cancer care performance indicators for public reporting in Ontario, Canada. IMPLEMENTATION: Using a modified Delphi panel method, comprising a systematic literature review and multiple rounds of structured feedback from 34 experts, the Cancer Quality Council of Ontario developed a set of quality indicators spanning cancer prevention through to end-of-life care. To be useful to decision-makers and providers, indicator selection criteria included a clear focus on the cancer system, relevance to a diversity of cancer providers, a strong link to the mission and strategic objectives of the cancer system, clear directionality of indicator results, presence of targets and/or benchmarks, feasibility of populating the indicator, and credibility of the measure as an indicator of quality. To ensure that the selected indicators would measure progress over time against specific and widely accepted goals, we created a strategy map based on the five strategic objectives of the Ontario cancer system: (i) to improve the measurement and reporting of cancer quality, (ii) to increase the use of evidence and innovation in decision-making, (iii) to improve access to cancer services and reduce waiting times, (iv) to increase efficiency across the system, (v) to reduce the burden of cancer. An analysis of the mean indicator ratings by experts, and the strategy mapping exercise resulted in the identification of 36 indicators deemed suitable for routine performance measurement of the Ontario cancer system. LESSONS LEARNED: The resulting instrument incorporates a credible evidence basis for performance measurement aligned to the five strategic goals for the Ontario cancer system. It represents the integrating of a management culture, focused on the implementation of a new strategic direction for the cancer system, with the underlying evidence-based culture of clinicians.     

高校护理质量评价指标体系的构建

目的 构建一套适用于高校的护理质量评价指标体系。方法 广泛查阅国内外文献,经过专家小组讨论形成咨询问卷,对在校大学生进行2轮的函询调查,采用界值法、结合综合指数法对指标进行筛选,最终确立高校护理质量评价指标体系。结果 两轮函询中,问卷回收率均为100%,权威系数分别为0.46、0.54,构建了包含6个一级指标,12个二级指标,31个三级指标的高校护理质量评价指标体系。结论 本研究构建的高效护理质量评价指标体系具有较高的科学性和可靠性,为高校护理工作的评价提供客观、可量化的测评依据。     

Costs of using evidence-based implementation strategies for behavioral health integration in a large primary care system

ObjectiveTo describe the cost of using evidence‐based implementation strategies for sustained behavioral health integration (BHI) involving population‐based screening, assessment, and identification at 25 primary care sites of Kaiser Permanente Washington (2015‐2018).Data Sources/Study SettingProject records, surveys, Bureau of Labor Statistics compensation data.Study DesignLabor and nonlabor costs incurred by three implementation strategies: practice coaching, electronic health records clinical decision support, and performance feedback.Data Collection/Extraction MethodsPersonnel time spent on these strategies was estimated for five broad roles: (a) project leaders and administrative support, (b) practice coaches, (c) clinical decision support programmers, (d) performance metric programmers, and (e) primary care local implementation team members.Principal FindingImplementation involved 286 persons, 18 131 person‐hours, costing $1 587 139 or $5 per primary care visit with screening or $38 per primary care visit identifying depression, suicidal thoughts and/or alcohol or substance use disorders, in a single year. The majority of person‐hours was devoted to project leadership (35%) and practice coaches (34%), and 36% of costs were for the first three sites.ConclusionsWhen spread across patients screened in a single year, BHI implementation costs were well within the range for commonly used diagnostic assessments in primary care (eg, laboratory tests). This suggests that implementation costs alone should not be a substantial barrier to population‐based BHI.     

妇幼保健机构综合绩效评价指标体系构建

目的 探索构建妇幼保健机构综合绩效评价指标体系,为妇幼保健机构绩效管理提供思路和依据.方法 采用文献回顾、专家论证法、Delphi专家咨询法、离散趋势法、相关分析法、主成分分析与因子分析法和聚类分析法等建立指标体系,采用专家评分法和CRITIC法主客观权衡计算指标权重系数,并对指标体系的一致性信度及内部结构效度进行检验.结果 根据绩效评价指标体系框架,设定医疗保健工作质量、医疗保健工作效率、公共卫生服务质量和效率、社会效益、经济效益、发展潜力6大类一级指标.结论 通过科学研究,可以建立一套科学合理的适用于我国不同级别妇幼保健机构的综合绩效评价指标体系.     

Trends in socioeconomic disparities in health care quality in four countries.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a targeted portrait of socioeconomic disparities in health care quality in four countries and how those disparities have changed over time. DESIGN: Within each country, comparisons between the highest and lowest quintiles of socioeconomic status were made to determine if disparities exist and if any observed disparities have been decreasing over a 5-year period. SETTING: Small geographic areas in Canada, England, New Zealand and the United States. DATA SOURCES: Data were obtained by working with national health statistics agencies in each country. RESULTS: There were socioeconomic disparities in health care quality and health status for most of the indicators studied in all four countries. The analysis included nine quality indicators in four countries, for a total of thirty-six observations. Twenty-six observations had a ratio of highest to lowest socioeconomic quintile of <0.95 or >1.05. These disparities generally persisted over time. The relative difference between the highest and lowest quintile decreased over time in eight of the twenty-one observations with time-series data available. CONCLUSION: The fact that disparities in a variety of indicators exist in four very different health systems underscores the importance of factors common to the four systems or factors outside the health system. Some successful strategies for reducing disparities could potentially be learned from the few examples of success in these countries.     

Privately funded quality health care in India: a sustainable and equitable model.

OBJECTIVE: As the cost and degree of training necessary to provide state of the art health care has increased throughout the world, the present challenge in health care is to establish institutions that are financially sound and responsive to the dynamic needs of the communities in which they exist. As public funds have diminished, the role of the private sector in estabhshing innovative health care institutions has increased. SETTING AND STUDY PARTICIPANTS: This paper reviews the case of the LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), an ophthalmologic institute in Hyderabad, India, that is financially sound and medically vital. With an annual budget of US$3 million, 180 000 patients are seen and 23 000 surgeries are performed at the Institute and its satellites each year. MAIN MEASURES: The Institute provides patient care at a ratio of 1:1 non-paying to paying patients through fee cross-subsidization. The Institute uses a combination of financial modalities, including donations, grants and fees to administer its non-patient care programs. Non-clinical programs of the Institute include a paramedical training program and a fellowship in ophthalmology, an internationally accredited eye bank for the preservation of corneal tissues, a rural out-reach and education program, a basic science and epidemiology program that directs health policy activities of the Institute and a rehabilitation program for patients with incurable visual deficits. To evaluate its effectiveness, LVPEI uses quality improvement measures, including patient surveys, post-operative outcomes studies and service utlization reviews. CONCLUSION: This case report of a privately-funded medical institution describes a successful model through which high-quality, equitable health care can be provided in a developing country. The LVPEI's active program of quality management, its academic commitment and programmatic relevance to the needs of its community should be modularized and replicated to establish equitable, efficient and effective health care institutions in the developing world.     

妇幼保健机构质量管理体系整合的初步体会

目的为进一步健全妇幼保健机构的质量管理体系，形成标准化的管理模式，推动整体管理水平和服务质量的提高。方法在“上等达标”的创建活动中，以ISO9000：2000的技术方法为路径，以广东省妇幼保健机构等级评审细则（以下简称《细则》）为内容，设计运行体系，建立体系文件，形成统一的质量方针、质量目标和持续改进的质量管理机制。结果如期顺利完成创建任务，全员质量意识和质控技能明显提高，服务数量和质量大幅度改善。结论将ISO9000国际质量标准体系和其技术方法与《细则》结合起来进行“上等达标”的创建工作是可行的，它为多种管理体系的整合运行提供了可行性例证。     

Quality-based purchasing in health care

Quality-based purchasing is a growing trend that seeks to improve healthcare quality through the purchaser-provider relationship. This article provides a unifying conceptual framework, presents examples of the purchaser-provider relationship in countries at different income levels, and identifies important supporting mechanisms for quality-based purchasing. As countries become wealthier, a higher proportion of healthcare spending is channeled through pooled arrangements, allowing for greater involvement of purchasers in promoting the quality of service provision. Global and line item budgets are the most common type of provider payment system in low and middle-income countries. In these countries, improving public hospital performance through contracting and incentives is a key issue. In middle and high-income countries, there are several documented examples of governments contracting to private or non-governmental health care providers, resulting in higher perceived quality of care and lower delivery costs. Encouraging quality through employer purchasing arrangements has been promoted in several countries, particularly the United States. Community-based financing schemes are an increasingly common form of health financing in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, but these schemes still cover less than 10% of national populations in countries in which they are active. To date, there is little evidence of their impact on healthcare quality. The availability of information--concerning healthcare service provision and outcomes--determines the options for establishing and monitoring contract provisions and promoting quality. Regardless of the context, quality-based purchasing depends critically on informa-tion--reporting, monitoring, and providing useful information to healthcare consumers. In many low and middle-income countries, the lack of availability of information is the principal constraint on measuring performance, a critical component of quality-based purchasing.     

The unsustainable US health care system: a blueprint for change

As a family physician, I have become increasingly uncomfortable being associated with the US health care system. While shiny, new buildings go up each day, there is still little movement toward a model that will shore up the crumbling foundation. The current delivery system and financing structures are unsustainable. Inequitable distribution of resources continues, and an increasing number of American families do not have access to adequate care. In this essay, patient stories are woven into a narrative that highlights the magnitude of the problem at multiple levels of the system. My intent is not to compare stories, because we all have patients, friends, and family members who have been affected. The purpose of this essay is to encourage each reader to reflect on his or her own experiences and to present an imperative to lead change.     

Assessing perceived quality of primary care under hospital-township health centre integration: A cross-sectional study in China

Since the new round of health care reform in 2009, the vertical integration of hospitals and primary health institutions has become widely implemented in China as an efficient method for improving quality of primary care. This study aimed to answer the following questions: (a) What is the perceived quality of township health centres (THCs) under integration? (B) What differences could be observed among the three typical integration models, namely, private hospital-THC integration, public hospital-THC integration, and loose collaboration? Two rounds of cross-sectional surveys were conducted from November 2016 to June 2018. The Chinese version of the Primary Care Assessment Tool was used to evaluate perceived quality of sample THCs, and 1118 adult patients were interviewed in total. Multiple linear regressions were employed to compare the quality scores between two survey rounds and among different integration models after controlling for potential confounders. The results revealed that the quality of care significantly improved under private hospital-THC integration as observed by comparing two survey rounds, while no change or slight changes were observed in the other two models. The difference observed among the three models was that the perceived quality of THCs integrated with private hospitals was worse than that of THCs integrated with public hospitals and THCs under loose collaboration, while no significant difference was observed between public hospital-THC integration and loose collaboration. Increased attention should be given to highlighting the tight integration between hospitals and THCs and the different roles played by private and public hospitals in the current reform.