CHICAGO – Meaningful use incentives make quality – and quality reporting – an integral component of electronic health records. To help providers and vendors better understand the details behind those imperatives, HIMSS has introduced Quality 101, a new online primer on quality measurement.
 
The site was developed by the HIMSS Patient Safety & Quality Outcomes Committee as a portal into the world of quality, quality measurement and improvement. It will be rolled out in phases each quarter, with Phase 1 an overview of quality measures and Phase 2 focused on the Plan-D-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle approach to quality improvement and related quality components.

"Quality measurement and improvement activities have, until recently, been running on separate tracks and parallel tracks with the adoption of healthcare information technology," said Lou Diamond, chairman, HIMSS Patient Safety and Quality Outcomes Committee. "With the passage of ARRA and the meaningful use requirements for incentive payment from CMS, we have the de facto merging of these two activities."

Diamond, who is also vice president and medical director, healthcare and scientific, Thomson Reuters, added that "the Quality 101 website will be attempting to bridge these two parallel worlds, by providing basic information and updates focused on quality measurement and improvement."

Visitors to the Quality 101 website will find the following information:

• Quality – The Basics
• Quality – Key Industry Players
• Quality & Meaningful Use
• Quality – Public Reporting
• Quality/Cost Relationship
• Quality – Clinical Decision Support
• Quality – Resources

Each section offers updated information with links to additional background on the featured topics. Rather than search for background information, current data, metrics or contact information, HIMSS Quality 101 serves as an information aggregator bringing all resources together.

"Achieving quality is the ultimate purpose of meaningful use," says David Collins, HIMSS director, healthcare information systems. "A core understanding of the various factors that influence quality is vital to its success. The Quality 101 website provides a structured collection of resources for healthcare providers and health IT professionals so that the electronic health record can be leveraged to capture data to monitor and trend outcomes and improve quality, safety, and efficiencies."