| Primary Author: | Yajie Li, BMed, MS |
| Co-Principal Investigators/Collaborators: | Mildred Holmes Williams |
| Organization: | Optimal Solutions Group, LLC |
Abstract
Background
Over the past twenty years, there has been a continual emphasis on the quality of services provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Health care organizations must ensure the security, confidentiality of member records, and apply a data management system that can analyze and report clinical information in a cost-effectiveness manner.
Purpose
The abstract studies the impact of using a real-time data collection, analysis and reporting system to manage Medicare data. Data collection, trend-analysis, and lessons learned are discussed. Furthermore, it explores the improved data processing model that adapts to the constant changing state and federal quality improvement evaluation criteria.
Materials & Methods
With a team of clinical staff, business analysts and data architects, a design, pilot and implementation was developed for a “template tracker database model”. To maximize the template tracker data reporting function, a variety of “off the shelf” software programs, Spotfire and Crystal Reports, were linked to the template tracker database to enable real-time interfaces that are shared among quality evaluators, researchers, and clients. Through standardized quality criteria and evaluation language, the quality improvement process was transcribed into a comprehensive electronic database with the capacity to inform, analyze and report quality improvement outcomes.
Results
The development of a real time health data system has improved staff/client interface, allowing for internal management of resources, early plan trend detection, and immediate and ongoing feedback to the client. States health departments and health plans may benefit from the system that can link existing state data, to provide real-time reporting in visual dashboards and concurrent written reports.
Conclusion
A combination of multiple data tools and standardized clinical language guided quality improvement evaluation, in a secure, valid, and compliant data system. Real time information management can serve as a transition portal from a manual submission to a direct electronic submission and analysis of medical data.
© Improvement Science Research Network, 2011