The National Quality Forum has endorsed the PointRight® Pro 30™ rehospitalization measure, the company and the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living announced in January.
“This endorsement aligns with AHCA’s mission to improve lives by delivering solutions for quality care,” said AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson.
“It’s tools such as this that allow us to improve quality care and reduce hospital readmissions,” he added.
The NQF endorsement was a result of “extensive testing and evaluation of its reliability and validity,” including sponsors being asked to provide descriptions of how the measure is calculated and risk-adjusted, the association said. The tool is being used by more than 9,000 skilled nursing facilities. Several accountable care organizations and managed care organizations, the association said, also are using it.
It’s critical for these groups to use this measure as a source of information for long-term care, according to David Gifford, M.D., MPH, senior vice president of quality and regulatory affairs at AHCA.
“This measure is the only NQF-endorsed, risk-adjusted rehospitalization tool for skilled nursing centers that measures rehospitalization rates for all admissions, regardless of payor status,” he said.
The case-mix adjusted rehospitalization tool reflects that the industry is “serious about improving care outcomes through cost-effective, accountable care,” said Steven Littlehale, executive vice president and chief clinical officer with PointRight.
“The use of this NQF-endorsed measure helps SNFs identify improvement opportunities, monitor their progress and ultimately demonstrate value to hospitals, ACOs and bundles,” he said.
AHCA announced in 2012 it was using the OnPoint-30™ rehospitalization metric, produced by PointRight, to calculate case-mix adjusted hospitalization metrics for its members under its national Quality Initiative.
From the February 01, 2015 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
