healthcare quality initiatives

Ensuring the Quality of the Medical Data You Need


As the need to share medical data increases, so does the need for an electronic healthcare data infrastructure. This infrastructure must share data with local, state, federal and private entities. The information that is shared must be stored in a safe and secure environment.

With the passing of new healthcare legislation, electronic medical record keeping is now mandatory. This puts a burden on the medical industry as a whole. The health care analytics for quality and performance improvement is a top priority.

There are three things that must be done to insure integrity of medical data reporting. The first thing to implement is an enterprise data warehouse for your healthcare facility. The information system is the foundation of your electronic medical record storage facility.

Next, you must identify improvement priorities. In order to do this, a tool exists that uses the 80-20 rule. The Key Process Analysis tool determines 20 percent of the processes that use 80 percent of the resources. The KPA application combines costs, clinical and billing data with ICD-9 codes to determine who is using the most resources.



The third thing that needs to be done for the healthcare analytics for quality and performance improvement efforts is to gain a consensus among all team members in your organization. Everyone must agree to all the policies and procedures to ensure a successful system. People will be able to view, at an instant, vital information that improves efficiency and accuracy.

In order to accomplish the steps that are essential in building such an infrastructure, you must rely on information technology professionals. When hiring a consultant, look for someone who will not only build your system, but will train your team members as well. This will help things run smoother when migrating to an integrated data records system. Talk with your IT department on specific systems that your organization might need to ensure clinical quality of data.

Following these three steps will help any healthcare facility to build, maintain and expand mandatory medical record reporting. This system will also help streamline vital data-sharing efforts. Providing professionals, support staff and government agents with information they need when they need it saves time, and most importantly, lives.