Eating the Carrot While Dodging the Stick: How to Put Quality Back into Your Quality Improvement Efforts (P18)

Abstract

1.Discuss the major regulatory, payor, and accreditation requirements for collecting and reporting information on quality that directly impacts hospice and palliative care sustainability and growth.2.Learn about examples of collaborative efforts to collect, share, and act upon information on quality.3.In workshop setting, get expert and peer feedback on your program's current quality improvement efforts, select additional measures to include, get tips on how to move to the next level of impact, and strengthen networks for future collaboration, all in a workshop setting. Payors are increasingly using payment incentives as both a carrot and a stick to speed up meaningful implementation of quality measurement and quality reporting. Impending regulatory requirements for participation in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), hospice quality assurance and process improvement, possible future hospice compare, and integration of palliative care domains into hospital and accountable care organization quality reporting requirements are complex, but important to understand. This workshop will help participants: (a) understand the theory that underlies the national quality reporting efforts, (b) use online tools and resources for identifying appropriate standardized quality measures beyond the Fair Employment and Housing Commission, and (c) audit their current process improvement (PI) programs and plan for meeting increasing quality measurement requirements. The workshop will be highly interactive, giving participants the opportunity to collaborate with peers to both give and receive feedback on how to overcome common barriers to implementing transformative and innovative quality improvement programs. Participants will receive a “homework” packet prior to attending the workshop to prepare for conducting an audit of their current PI efforts. Participants will leave the workshop with a plan for implementing standardized national quality measures, reporting the results to program leadership, and using the results to create meaningful change. The workshop will also showcase examples of leading edge efforts to develop better tools for hospice and palliative care quality improvement, such as the Carolina Collaborative. The AAHPM Quality Task Force organizes this workshop, intending that the opportunity for peer-to-peer interaction will seed increased informal collaborations for sharing best PI practices and encouraging the spread of learning organization culture.