Contemplating Quality and Value Together

  The first step in the development of any quality improvement initiative is to define what quality is for the given situation. The definition of quality will vary depending on perspective and interests: providers, administrators, policy makers, and patients all...

Connecting Quality Improvement with Creativity

Our ability to improve care quality depends on our ability to influence. Consider that for a moment. Our ability to improve care quality depends on our ability to influence. When you think about it, in order to truly effect change on a large scale we need more than...

Learnings from measuring “quality” applied to “value”

What have we learned from measuring “quality” that we can apply to measuring “value” in healthcare?   With all of the focus and attention in healthcare turning towards the concept of “value” I am surprised at how few resources...

What is moral hazard and why should I care?

Let’s imagine a scenario: let’s say that you’re standing at the top of a ski run, all decked out in your gear and ready to turn down the hill and go. Let’s also suppose that this run you’re about to take on is above your current skill...

Process vs outcome measures

Breaking Down the Arguments for Process vs Outcome Measures, Including the Role of Risk Adjustment   As quality measures are developed and quality monitoring programs seek to refine their measure list to those that are the most impactful and least burdensome,...

The difference between validity and reliability, and why it matters

When discussing the merits of a particular healthcare quality measure, the concepts of “validity” and “reliability” are often used interchangeably (if used at all). This is understandable: they are technical terms (i.e., jargon) and they both refer to how “good” a...