Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ): Quality Indicators
www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/
The AHRQ Quality Indicators (QIs) are measures
of healthcare quality that make use of readily
available hospital inpatient administrative data.
Software and user guides are now available that
will help users apply the QIs to their own data.
The QIs are based on a technical review developed
by the Stanford-UCSF Evidence-based Practice Center.
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American Productivity
& Quality Center (APQC)
www.apqc.org
An internationally recognized resource for process
and performance improvement, the American Productivity
& Quality Center (APQC) helps organizations
adapt to rapidly changing environments, build
new and better ways to work, and succeed in a
competitive marketplace. With a focus on benchmarking
and best practices, knowledge management, metrics
& measures, performance measurement, and professional
development initiatives, APQC works with its member
organizations to identify best practices, discover
effective methods of improvement, broadly disseminate
findings, and connect individuals with each other,
as well as with the knowledge, training, and tools
they need to succeed. Founded in 1977, APQC is
a member-based nonprofit serving organizations
around the world in all sectors of business, education,
and government.
APQC works with organizations across all industries
to find practical, cost-effective solutions to
drive productivity and quality improvement. APQC
offers a variety of products and services including
consortium, custom, and metric benchmarking studies;
publications, including books, best-practice reports,
and implementation guides; computer-based, on-site,
and custom training; consulting and facilitation
services; and networking opportunities.
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Association for Quality
and Participation (AQP)
www.aqp.org
AQP, the Association for Quality and Participation,
is an international not-for-profit membership
association dedicated to improving workplaces
through quality and participation practices. Founded
in 1977 as the International Association of Quality
Circles, AQP has helped countless individuals,
organizations, and communities establish a foundation
for initiating change in the way they operate.
AQP improves institutions, both large and small,
by changing the way companies view their work,
their relationships, their organizational structures,
and their communications.
AQP provides two basic tools: Information and
Training. AQP provides members with information
unique to their goals. To train organizations
and individuals, AQP hosts numerous educational
events including on-site training and an annual
conference and resource mart. AQP is also the
cofounder of the School for Managing, a series
of courses and workshops.
AQP was founded on the concept that when employees
are engaged, organizations can change the way
they operate and experience improvements.
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Center for Quality
Assessment and Improvement in Mental Health
(CQAIMH)
www.cqaimh.org/index.html
The Center for Quality Assessment and Improvement
in Mental Health (CQAIMH) conducts mental health
services research and provides quality management
services to improve community-based care for individuals
with mental health and addictions disorders. CQAIMH,
consisting of faculty and staff from the Institute
for Clinical Research & Health Policy Studies
at Tufts—New
England Medical Center, Tufts University School
of Medicine and Harvard University, develops methods
of quality assessment, studies determinants of
quality, and tests strategies for quality improvement.
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Commission on Accreditation
of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF): Publications
www.carf.org/consumer.aspx?Content=Content/Publications/Bookstore/Consumer.htm&ID=8
You can order these publications related to
quality and performance improvement from the CARF
bookstore:
- Performance Indicators for Rehabilitation
Programs, Version 1.1, August 1998
- Outcomes Management in Behavioral Health,
1997
- Managing Outcomes in Employment and Community
Services, 1997
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The Experience of
Care and Health Outcomes Survey (ECHO)™
www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/echo/home.html
The Experience of Care and Health Outcomes Survey
(ECHO™)
is designed to collect consumers' ratings of their
behavioral health treatment for use by consumers,
clinicians, managed behavioral healthcare organizations
(MBHO), healthcare plans, purchasers, states,
and Federal agencies. MBHO and health plan versions
of the ECHO™
survey are currently available. Both surveys ask
exactly the same questions about treatment and
counseling services; however, the plan survey
includes a few more items about administrative
services, such as filling out paperwork and finding
information in written materials. The MBHO version
consists of 51 questions, while the health plan
version consists of 63 questions. The ECHO™
contains items assessing consumer experience with
specialty behavioral health care, including mental
health and alcohol, drug, and other substance
abuse services.
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Foundation for Accountability
(FACCT)
http://www.markle.org/resources/facct
The Foundation for Accountability's (FACCT)
mission was to improve health care for Americans
by advocating for an accountable and accessible
system where consumers are partners in their care
and help shape the delivery of care.
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Institute for Healthcare
Improvement (IHI)
www.ihi.org/
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)
is a not-for-profit organization driving the improvement
of health by advancing the quality and value of
health care. The activities of IHI have evolved
and grown for a decade. This evolution reflects
more than just the inevitable changes that every
organization undergoes. It reflects the developmental
stages that the professional healthcare community
has experienced and must continue to pursue in
order to ensure future improvement successes.
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International Society
for Performance Improvement (ISPI)
www.ispi.org
The International Society for Performance Improvement
(ISPI) is the leading international association
of professionals dedicated to improving individual
and organizational performance through a systematic,
measurable, and reproducible methodology known
as Human Performance Technology. Founded in 1962,
ISPI consists of international and chapter members
throughout the United States, Canada, and other
countries. ISPI members hold management and line
positions in employee training, human resource
development, instructional systems design, organizational
development, performance improvement, and training
and performance consulting.
ISPI members have been steadily improving performance
for the largest, most successful organizations
around the world. Individual ISPI members are
employed by the Fortune 100 and every branch of
the U.S. military. They work in all settings:
corporate, education, government, military, and
not-for-profit.
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International Society
for Quality in Health Care (ISQua)
www.isqua.org.au/
ISQua, the International Society for Quality
in Health Care, is a nonprofit, independent organization
with members in over 70 countries. ISQua provides
services to guide health professionals, providers,
researchers, agencies, policymakers, and consumers;
to achieve excellence in healthcare delivery to
all people; and to continuously improve the quality
and safety of care.
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Joint Commission
on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
www.jointcommission.org
The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits
more than 15,000 health care organizations and
programs in the United States. An independent,
not-for-profit organization, JCAHO is the nation's
predominant standards-setting and accrediting
body in health care. Since 1951, JCAHO has developed
state-of-the-art, professionally based standards
and evaluated the compliance of healthcare organizations
against these benchmarks.
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Managing for Quality
http://erc.msh.org/quality/
Managing for Quality is a collaborative effort
between Management Sciences for Health and UNICEF
to develop a practical, useful, and interactive
resource that managers can use to improve quality
in the many different types of health and family
planning programs in which they work. Managing
for Quality does not offer a fixed prescription
or a magic bullet for improving quality but rather
a collection of concepts, tools, techniques, best
practices, and experiences that can be adapted
and used in diverse settings, or creatively integrated
to support existing quality improvement initiatives.
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National Association
for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ)
www.nahq.org
The National Association for Healthcare Quality
(NAHQ) is the nation's leading organization for
healthcare quality professionals. Founded in 1976,
NAHQ currently comprises more than 5,000 individual
members and 100 institutional members. Its goal
is to promote the continuous improvement of quality
in healthcare by providing educational and development
opportunities for professionals at all management
levels and within all healthcare settings.
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National Quality Forum
(NQF)
www.qualityforum.org
The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit
membership organization created to develop and
implement a national strategy for healthcare quality
measurement and reporting. A shared sense of urgency
about the impact of healthcare quality on patient
outcomes, workforce productivity, and healthcare
costs prompted leaders in the public and private
sectors to create the NQF as a mechanism to bring
about national change.
Established as a public-private partnership,
the NQF has broad participation from all parts
of the healthcare system, including national,
state, regional, and local groups representing
consumers, public and private purchasers, employers,
healthcare professionals, provider organizations,
health plans, accrediting bodies, labor unions,
supporting industries, and organizations involved
in healthcare research or quality improvement.
Together, the organizational members of the NQF
work to promote a common approach to measuring
healthcare quality and fostering system-wide
capacity for quality improvement.
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National Quality
Measures Clearinghouse™
www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/
The National Quality Measures Clearinghouse™
(NQMC™),
sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, is a database and Web site
for information on specific evidence-based healthcare
quality measures and measure sets. The NQMC's
mission is to provide practitioners, healthcare
providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems,
purchasers, and others an accessible mechanism
for obtaining detailed information on quality
measures and to further their dissemination, implementation,
and use in order to inform healthcare decisions.
NQMC builds on AHRQ's previous initiatives in
quality measurement, including the Computerized
Needs-Oriented Quality Measurement Evaluation
System (CONQUEST), the Expansion of Quality of
Care Measures (Q-SPAN) project, the Quality Measurement
Network (QMNet) project, and the Performance Measures
Inventory (PMI).
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NetOutcomes
www.netoutcomes.net/
NetOutcomes is an educational resource center
dedicated to facilitating basic education about
behavioral health outcomes and providing practical
information about implementing and maintaining
outcomes management systems in practice. Through
the introduction of the enhanced NetOutcomes Web
site, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences'
(UAMS) Center for Outcomes Research and Effectiveness
(CORE) provides users a foundation for establishing
a solid understanding of the outcomes assessment
process and its varied implications for improving
care. In addition to the disease-specific NetOutcomes
assessment tools developed by CORE and available
on the Internet since 1998, the site now includes
a listing of the guideline concordant dose ranges
used by NetOutcomes, a primer on behavioral health
outcomes assessment, and an easily referenced
bibliography of basic, professional literature.
An outcomes systems implementation guide and numerous
links to sources detailing the latest relevant
developments in outcomes research and practice
round out the Web site. A full range of aggregate
outcomes reporting and consultation services is
available at the "NetOutcomes Solutions"
section of the Web site. A wealth of clinically
relevant, graphically portrayed information can
be referenced, both within and across practice
settings, depending on specific client need.
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Quality
Enhancement Research
Initiative
(QUERI): Substance
Use Disorders
www.chce.research.med.va.gov/qsud.htm
QUERI is the acronym for the Quality Enhancement
Research Initiative, an effort to use health service
research to improve the quality of care for VA
patients, as well for non-VA patients. The Center
for Health Care Evaluation has been selected as
the coordinating center for the QUERI Substance
Use Disorders (QSUD) Module.
The QSUD Module conducts or fosters research/translation
projects to address its specific aims. QSUD research
provides the foundation for projects to translate
findings on evidence-based practices into routine
clinical care in both primary and specialized
treatment settings.
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USDHHS/Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA)
www.samhsa.gov
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), an agency of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS),
was established by an act of Congress in 1992
under Public Law 102-321. With the stroke of a
pen, an agency separate and distinct from the
National Institutes of Health or any other agency
within the USDHHS, was created to focus attention,
programs, and funding on improving the lives of
people with or at risk for mental and substance
abuse disorders.
Much has changed since then in the mental health
and substance abuse fields, and so, too, has SAMHSA.
To that end, SAMHSA's mission and vision have
been more sharply focused and aligned with USDHHS
goals and the President's administration priorities.
It is a vision consistent with the president's
New Freedom Initiative that promotes a life in
the community for everyone. Moreover, SAMHSA is
achieving that vision through a mission that is
both action-oriented and measurable: to build
resilience and facilitate recovery for people
with or at risk for substance abuse and mental
illness. In collaboration with the states, national
and local community-based and faith-based organizations,
and public and private sector providers, SAMHSA
is working to ensure that people with or at risk
for a mental or addictive disorder have the opportunity
for a fulfilling life that includes a job, a home,
and meaningful relationships with family and friends.
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