Clinical Performance Measures that Matter —Are You Ready?

Ask EMS professionals to define “quality in EMS” and you may get a tip of the head and an answer like, “Well, I’m not sure, but I know it when I see it.” In today’s healthcare environment, demonstrating quality is crucial. Payers are increasingly linking payment to outcome and quality, and becoming less interesting in paying for services that don’t add value or are quality-based.1 Historically, EMS has struggled operationalizing quality-based metrics. EMS Compass and the new National EMS Quality Alliance are attempting to get quality measures for EMS launched, and more importantly, adopted by payers and other stakeholders, but the quest has been relatively elusive, perhaps because of the fear that our payments may be tied to quality metrics. The reality is that the rest of healthcare is already there, and it’s coming to EMS. Let’s explore some of the metrics that could be applicable to EMS quality. Clinical Measures There’s little peer-reviewed research that demonstrates that the things we do in EMS are tied to a change in the patient’s outcome. However, there are some clinical treatments that have been tied to clinical bundles that have been peer reviewed. For example, clinical processes of care for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients that have been shown to make a difference: aspirin, oxygen, nitrates, rapid transmission of ECG, and transport to a STEMI center. There are also clinical bundles for conditions like stroke, asthma, hypoglyc...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Exclusive Articles Operations Administration and Leadership Source Type: news