Health Information Systems

Part A

1. Quality Management Professionals

1. Describe the mechanism that the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) uses to serve HIM professionals who work in quality management.
2. What is the certification for individuals who are experienced in quality assessment and improvement available from the National Association for Healthcare Quality? Name the credential and list the requirements needed to sit for the examination.

2. Outcome Measures

1. Explain the purpose of The Joint Commission's Core Measure initiative. What benefits are gained by integrating performance measures into the accreditation process? How does involvement in the Core Measure initiative affect a health care organization's accreditation status? Explain the concepts and purposes of a performance measurement system and core measures. List a specific example of each.
2. Describe and explain the purpose of HEDIS that is collected as part of National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) accreditation. Give a specific example of a measure that is collected as part of HEDIS. What data items are used to create this measure?

3. Information Available to the Consumer

1. Identify the information available from The Joint Commission about a named accredited health care organization/facility. Do you feel this information is helpful to the consumer? Why or why not?
2. Access an accreditation summary report from the National Committee on Quality Assurance for a managed health care plan that you are familiar with. For example, Exclusive HealthCare, Inc. is Mutual of Omaha's HMO; HMO Nebraska is Blue Cross of Nebraska's HMO. List the company name and its current accreditation status. What are areas of concern, e.g., a low score or less than full compliance?

4. Resources for Developing Quality Improvement Studies

1. Select a Clinical Practice Guideline developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. List the topic. Identify and print a portion of the guidelines that could be used to develop a quality improvement study. For this portion, identify the group of professionals who would use that study (e.g., orthopedic physicians, physical therapists) and the group of patients by diagnosis, procedure, or other characteristic to be studied.
2. Identify a disease or medical procedure. Search the Web to identify sources of information for the consumer who has the disease, the health care professional who works with patients who have the disease, and information to use in a quality improvement study.

Part B

Conduct a literature search and find 2-5 examples of how the registry data have been used by state departments of health or research. Answer the following questions:

1. What primary site(s) of cancer were used in the study?
2. Describe how the cancer registry data were used in the study.
3. Were the data used to develop a method of tracking cancer rates?
4. Were programs developed to address the rate of cancer on the basis of the report?
5. Describe the main goals and outcomes of the study, if applicable.

 Part C

Conduct an Internet search to find mortality statistics reported in at least two different countries. Compare these with mortality statistics in the United States. Answer the following questions:

1. What version of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is used in the countries?
2. What are the top five causes of death?
3. What is the source of the mortality data? For example, are death certificates used?
4. Is there anything different about how the statistics are generated?