Know where you are and where you’re going

Introducing the Hospital Quality Improvement Platform, HQI’s most dynamic analytical resource yet! The free Platform shows how you measure-up to hospitals in your area and statewide quality standards, and can help identify problems before they happen.  It gives you:

• Current reporting on ED metrics, PSI measures, and more, so you can monitor your HACRP score (and other metrics) to improve performance and compliance
• Charts and graphs that show your performance against more than 300 measures and your peers as you define them
• Data-integrity confidence while running independently from your EHR system 

The Platform is web-based, completely free, and uses data you already report to OSHPD & NHSN.

Set up your demo now.

 

Quality Measures

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform tracks and analyzes data for the following:

• Inpatient episode quality and efficiency
• Readmissions (3, 7, 14, 30 day)
• Healthcare-associated infections (NHSN HAIs)
• Case mix demographics, comorbidities, index
• CMS hospital-acquired conditions (DRA HAC and HACRP)
• Cancer surgery volumes
• ED discharge analytics (comorbidities, volume, demographics, revisits)
• Adverse drug events (anticoagulants, glycemic control, and opioids)
• Hospital-acquired conditions (HACs)
• AHRQ Patient safety indicators (PSIs)
• AHRQ Inpatient quality indicators (IQIs)
• Sepsis incidence and mortality
• Maternity measures
• Mortality/serious complications/reoperations/length of stay/discharge disposition
• Nursing-sensitive measures

Benchmarks

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platforms gives you 15 options for benchmarking your hospital’s performance:

• All California hospitals
• Other critical access hospitals
• Other children’s hospitals
• Your hospital’s past performance
• Other California hospitals:
  • In the same health system
  • In the same region
  • In the same metropolitan statistical area (MSA)
  • With similar bed size
  • With similar rurality/urbanity
  • With the same type of control (e.g., non-profit)
  • With the same license type
  • With similar Medicare payer mix
  • With similar MediCal payer mix
  • With the same trauma level designation
  • With similar inpatient discharge volume
  • With same ED type
  • With similar ED volume

Filters

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform allows you to filter your reports by:

• Payer type (e.g, Medicare, Medical, uninsured)
• Service line
• Gender
• Race/Ethnicity
• Principal procedure
• Principal diagnosis
• Age
• Type of care (e.g., Acute, ED, Ambulatory)
• Discharge disposition
• Zip code category (e.g., homeless, foreign address)
• Admission source
• Language
• Present on admission status
• ED treat & release vs. admit

Data Sources

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform doesn’t require any connection/interface to your EHR system. It uses the following data sources already created and submitted by your hospital:

• Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs): National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) data
• Recent inpatient, emergency department, and ambulatory surgery discharges: Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) Medical Information Reporting for California (MIRCal) System data sets
• Historical inpatient, emergency department, and ambulatory surgery discharges: OSHPD Limited Data Sets (formerly AB 2876 files)
• Maternal measures: California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) data

Eligibility

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform is available to all California Hospital Association members at no additional charge.

Tech Support

The Platform is supported by a friendly and knowledgeable team. We are here to help address any challenges.

You can reach us at (916) 552-7557 or HQIAnalytics@hqinstitute.org.

Join the Program

Joining the program and using the Platform is easy – please call Dr. Scott Masten at (916) 552-7557 to have him walk you through the process in just a few minutes.

The two forms you’ll need at some point are the Business Associate Agreement (BAA) and Participation Agreement.

Project Manager

HQI is proud to have Dr. Scott Masten, one of California’s leading epidemiologists at the helm of the Quality Improvement Platform team.

Scott Masten, PhD
Vice President, Measurement Science & Data Analytics
Hospital Quality Institute
Scott Masten joined HQI in 2016 to help develop the Hospital Quality Improvement Platform data warehouse and advance our data processing, analysis, and reporting capabilities, as well as provide statistical consulting, program evaluation, and education for member hospitals. He has a multidisciplinary background in injury epidemiology (PhD, UNC Chapel Hill) and experimental psychology (MA, CSU Sacramento) and is skilled in a large array of statistical techniques including ARIMA time series analysis, logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards survival analysis, generalized linear regression modeling, factor analysis, ANOVA/MANOVA covariate models, non-parametric techniques, stratified epidemiological analysis, meta-analysis, power analysis, comparisons of complex samples, and psychometric reliability and validity.

Platform Link

Click here to be taken to the Hospital Quality Improvement Platform.

FAQs

1. What are the data sources that HQIP uses for their reports?

HQIP primarily uses three data sources.

The first set of sources are the historical discharge data sets made by OSHPD for inpatient discharges, emergency department visits, and ambulatory surgery visits. We collectively call this set of data files the AB 2876 files throughout the website.

The second set of sources are the data files that hospitals sends to OSHPD to create their historical data sets. These data files are called the Medical Information Reporting for California (MIRCAL) files. Hospitals are required to send these files to OSHPD periodically throughout the year.

The last set is the data you submit to National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

2. What do you need from me in regards to each data source?

For the AB 2876 files, we ask that you submit a request to OSHPD for these files to be given to HQI. We require a custom data set, which necessitates a custom data request and therefore variable justification must be given, which we will provide.

For the MIRCal files, we ask that you upload the files through our secure uploading function on our website once OSHPD has accepted your file and it passes their requirements. You may upload your files more often than is required by OSHPD at your own liking.

For NHSN data, you must simply join our NHSN group.

3. How soon after uploading my MIRCal data will it appear in reports?

We will be able to complete data analysis within a few days and, at worst, your data will appear on the following Monday after you upload. (If uploaded before 5PM EST Friday).

4. How new is the data you are reporting on?

The data we show in our reports is either as new as the latest AB 2876 data or as new as the data in the MIRCal files you upload.

5. Will I be able to see a specific hospitals data or will other hospitals see my hospitals data?

No, you cannot see other hospitals data nor can they see yours. You will be able to select a pre-made comparison group of hospitals and see that groups averages. As well, you can see individual hospital rates in the comparison group, but the hospital name is hidden. Furthermore, you will not even know which hospitals are in the group.

6. Does the data platform require a connection to my hospital’s Electronic Health Records (EHR) system?

No. Discharge files your hospital already creates for OSHPD are uploaded manually and easily into the data platform without the need to connect to your EHR.

7. Can my hospital use our own BAA instead of HQI’s?

Yes. Our legal counsel will review and if it’s deemed sufficient, we can just use your hospital’s BAA.

8. Where can I access the data platform?

​https://hqi.arbormetrix.com/Registry/login

9. Is there a limit to the number of users allowed at my hospital?

No. Just send us their names and emails to HQIAnalytics@HQInstitute.org and we’ll make accounts for as many persons as you’d like. Alternatively, click the “Request Access” button at the link above.

10. Is there any cost for additional users?

No. You can have as many users as you’d like.

11. On the MSA, what do we put in for term and end dates?

It is completely up to you.  If a date is not inserted for an effective date, the effective date becomes the date you sign.  And as far as termination, it is basically at will as you can send in written notice 30 days prior to terminate.  Some users choose one year, some two years and some leave it open ended.  Our suggestion would be to leave it open as you always have the right to terminate.