From measurement to management: A case study in hospice AQPI
JoAnne Reifsnyder, Thomas Jefferson University

DATE: July 2006
SOURCE: Medicare Patient Management, 1(4):40-42, 2006
RELATED URL: http://medicarepatientmanagement.com/issues/01-04/MPM01-04_CaseStudy.pdf

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ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT:
This article is freely available from the publisher's website.

ABSTRACT:

Measurement of the quality of hospice care is challenging given the severity of illness of hospice patients; the rapid decline in their functional status and ability to report symptoms; the fact that they are receiving care in their homes, which generally means that a clinician is present only episodically to record symptoms or other outcomes of interest; and the fact that most hospices are relatively small, with correspondingly limited operating budgets. Lack of automation leads to laborious manual recording and aggregation of data for quality assurance purposes.