Health Data Quest: How to Find and Use Data for Performance Improvement

Gain a competitive edge with the power of data

Improve clinical performance and demonstrate value to health care purchasers and insurers by becoming a "data detective" within your organization. Health Data Quest is the practical guide to the most current and promising emerging measurement tools, and provides guidance for effectively and efficiently finding, interpreting, presenting, and using data.

This much–needed book is filled with the essential information, instructive models, and useful tools managers and executives need to create a program that can clearly demonstrate how a health care organization offers quality care in a cost–effective manner, including how to build a data warehouse.

Filled with illustrative examples and case studies, this book provides a practical, nuts–and–bolts approach for:

Conducting a data inventory and selecting indicators of performance
Learning the fundamentals of the data warehouse
Reviewing the vital legal issues of health care data management
Gaining insight into the implementation of a key performance improvement strategy
Meeting the challenge of integrating enterprise–wide health care information
Implementing a continuous quality improvement effort
Integrating clinical, financial and customer service data that will provide a concise picture of an organization′s performance

Health Data Quest is an indispensable guide for health care administrators and executives who rely on information systems and for any health care professional who must prepare or defend managed care contracts. The book provides a valuable resource for documenting the clinical performance of complex health care institutions.

Contents.

List of Figures.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

The Authors.

The Contributors.

THE INFORMATION KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY.

Why Do Organizations Need Data?

What Data Do Organizations Need? Performing a Data Needs Assessment.

The Health Care Information Processing Environment: A Knowledge–Based Enterprise (R. Gilbreath).

The Health Care Information Processing Environment: The Technical Infrastructure.

Provider–Sponsored Coordinated Care Organizations: Designing Systems for Patient–Centered Care.

Information–Driven Medical Management (R. Gilbreath & J. Lawing).

ISSUES IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT.

Legal Issues in Management of Health Care Data (P. Driscoll).

Adjusting for Severity.

Integrating Clinical Information for Performance Improvement.

Case Study: Linking and Integrating Enterprisewide Health Information Management Data (D. Bowers).

Case Study: Drilling Down for Performance Improvement Data (A. Rowton & S. McBride).

Case Study: Measuring the Effectiveness of Clinical Pathways (B. Pilon).

Case Study: Integrating Clinical and Financial Data to Create a Balanced Scorecard (L. Neal & J. Walker).

Creating a Climate of Discovery (S. Ryter).

Common Themes: Collaboration and Creativity.

References.

Glossary.

Index.

JILL LENK SCHILP, RN, MS, CPHQ, is a certified professional in health care quality and program director for clinical effectiveness with VHA, Inc. ROY E. GILBREATH, MD, is a practicing internist and vice president of system clinical services, Promina Gwinnette Health System.