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Sharing data about quality
Website helps patients, families to review how hospitals
meet 10 measures for care

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to communicate its performance on key clinical quality indicators via a new public website. CMS is developing this website for hospitals across the country to report data on the quality of care they deliver.

"There are financial incentives for hospitals to report their data, but that alone is not the primary reason behind UPMC’s decision to participate in this CMS project,” says Helen Chang, vice president, Quality Management, and executive vice president of UPMC’s Institute for Performance Improvement. “UPMC is dedicated to quality improvement in all areas of patient care. This initiative provides yet another tool to measure our successes and identify areas for further improvement for treatment of three serious medical conditions.”

The health system started to work with CMS in 2003 under the National Voluntary Reporting Initiative. The results of these efforts will culminate in the launch of a public website that patients and their families can use to review and compare hospital-specific performance on 10 quality care measures for treatment of heart attack (acute myocardial infarction, or AMI), heart failure, and pneumonia. The 10 measures are based on clinical evidence developed over the years as “best practices.” The public website is expected to debut by early spring. CMS also plans to publish ads in newspapers rating hospital performance on these quality measures.

“Under the direction of our clinical experts, these 10 quality care measures are used in every UPMC hospital,” says Loren Roth, MD, MPH, senior vice president and chief medical officer, UPMC. “UPMC physicians are leading ongoing initiatives to ensure these measures are properly understood, recorded, and fully integrated into the care delivery process.”

Empowering patients, providers
For the heart attack condition, hospitals will report compliance rates with five quality indicators, including whether aspirin — which can prevent blood clots from forming in the narrowed arteries of patients with AMI — was given upon arrival at the hospital and prescribed at discharge.

“Simple aspirin can save lives. Patients should know if their hospital consistently adheres to this best practice and what percentage of their patients who have suffered heart attacks receive appropriate aspirin therapy,” says Dr. Roth.

For the heart failure condition, hospitals will report two measures: how many of their patients with this diagnosis received an assessment of their heart function and if an ACE inhibitor was given to the patient. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors cause arteries and veins to widen and help the kidneys eliminate excess water. Both of these actions lower blood pressure, allow more oxygen to reach the heart, and reduce the amount of work the heart has to do.

Hospitals will report three care measures for patients with pneumonia. The website will list the percentages of patients with this diagnosis who were administered an antibiotic in a timely manner; received a pneumococcal vaccination, if appropriate; and who had their blood oxygen level assessed.

The data for all three medical conditions can inform the patient and the provider. Hospitals will be able to see areas in which they can improve, and patients will be able to make more knowledgeable decisions about the care that hospitals provide.