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Clinical quality measures are specific standards that help healthcare providers to monitor the care they provide. This set of measures asks whether patients are getting care that is safe, timely and effective. They range from preventive services and management of chronic conditions, to patient safety and treatment outcomes.
For instance, they evaluate whether diabetic patients are receiving their regular screenings or follow-up care after discharge from the hospital is taking place.
By monitoring these, providers can identify deficiencies in their delivery of care and improve as needed. This way of tracking also allows for a practice’s performance to be brought in line with national standards.
Why are Clinical Quality Measures Important?
Clinical quality indicators are important for providers given that they also directly relate to the performance and reputation of the healthcare organization. They facilitate analysis of how well providers are meeting the needs of patients.
When this data is accurately recorded and reported, it helps ensure that practices are compliant with healthcare quality measures like CMS or MIPS.
Not living up to these expectations can also result in financial penalties, such as the MIPS penalty. When properly applied, rather than just a way to stave off penalties during the transition process, they provide a clear roadmap for progressive improvements in patient care.
Primary Areas Covered By Clinical Quality Measures
Clinical quality measures address several key areas of patient care such as:
Preventive Care
These measures gauge whether patients are receiving preventative screenings and vaccinations on time. Late intervention can prevent more severe health issues down the road.
Chronic Disease Management
Diagnoses for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure are closely tracked to see that patients receive appropriate treatment and follow-up care.
Patient Safety
This section monitors events such as infections, readmissions or medical mistakes to ensure a safe environment for treatment.
Care Coordination
New rules now require the rationale for why all team members, including physicians, specialists and nurses are actually communicating to get better results.
Patient Experience
It involves patient satisfaction surveys and feedback, indicating what patients think about the quality of care they receive. Together, these measures more closely mirror the quality measures to help improve care on a national level.
Benefits of Clinical Quality Measures for Providers
Let’s have a look at the interesting benefits of clinical quality measures for healthcare providers.
Improved Patient Outcomes
By monitoring these metrics, clinicians can find out where patients might need more help. For instance, patients with chronic disease can be more effectively maintained under close surveillance to avoid further complications.
Regulatory Compliance
Compliance is simplified, as clinical quality measures produce the data that’s needed in compulsory reporting to MIPS and other CMS initiatives.
Financial Stability
Practices that perform well on these measures are not penalized. They may become eligible for additional incentives, which helps keep their financial positions strong as a result.
Enhanced Reputation
High performance on clinical quality measures is a trust-building exercise with patients, and that increases the practice’s reputation.
Data-Driven Decisions
The results from the measures also enable organizations to be better informed in how they make decisions on their operations, staffing and patient care processes.
For larger hospitals, these results also are linked to hospital quality measures and quality report cards that enhance their ability to provide safe and effective care.
Challenges to Meet Clinical Quality Measures
Providers face a number of challenges when working on clinical quality measures:
- Data Collection and Accuracy – Obtaining the data is difficult. Mistakes can factor into both compliance and performance scores.
- Frequent Changes in Standards – Measures and reporting requirements continue to evolve, making it difficult for providers to keep track.
- Lack of Resources – Many small practices do not have the necessary staff or technology to track and report effectively.
- Staff Training – The tools used to track and report data on clinical quality measures are not uniformly known by employees.
How Do Healthcare Providers Get Better on Their Clinical Quality Measures?
There are a number of things providers can do to bump up their clinical quality measures:
For reporting purposes, you can report measures from the minimal requirements category as long as your practice has available data and is using them. It also enables providers to capture, interpret and report data more readily.
Work with Experts
Through MIPS consulting services, healthcare teams are educated on the entire process from selecting measures to data collection and reporting.
Internal Audits
Internal audits are a systematic review of your practice’s workflows, records and data capturing practices. Regular review to detect program mistakes, or gaps in order for failure not to be discovered through the CQM or reports.
How Prime Well Med Solutions Can Help You?
Our MIPS reporting company is a trusted partner and qualified clinical data registry for healthcare providers seeking top performance in clinical quality measures. Our team offers full-service support that covers everything:
- Guidance on MIPS reporting and compliance
- Data submission assistance for fed-eral requirements.
- Approaches to efficiency in workflows and reporting
- Personalized solutions to raise your scores
With professional assistance, practices can eliminate so much admin and concentrate on patient care not paperwork.
Final Thoughts
Clinical quality measures are foundational to new care delivery approaches. They help providers in making sure that every patient receives the best care available and also meet stringent reporting requirements. For practices that seek to expand, these are paths to better patient care and reducing the risks of errors while improving patients’ experience.
If you are interested in streamlining your reporting process and want to know more about MIPS registry, contact us today!
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