How Does the Quality & Accountability Study Work?
The Consortium’s study is one of the most rigorous available. It uses Joint Commission’s four core measures (acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia, and the surgical care improvement project) as part of its effectiveness score along with readmission rates. It looks at mortality not just across eight major service lines, but also comprehensively across 27 service lines. It investigates six of 23 patient safety indicators from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality. It evaluates the efficiency of the health system based on observed direct costs and length of stay vs. expected. Finally, it tabulates patient satisfaction data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ HCAHPS surveys sent to patient homes.