Release of AHRQ Quality Indicators for Windows Version 4.1a and SAS® Version 4.1a

July 2 – Release of AHRQ Quality Indicators for Windows Version 4.1a and SAS® Version 4.1a

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announces the release of the AHRQ Quality Indicators software for Windows Version 4.1a and SAS Version 4.1a for the Prevention Quality Indicators (PQI), Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQI), Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) and Pediatric Quality Indicators (PDI) modules. The software and documentation are available for download from the AHRQ QI web site (http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/software.htm) today.

This announcement provides a summary of changes made for the WinQI 4.1a and SAS 4.1a versions of the software. There was an emphasis on insuring consistency between WinQI, SAS and the technical specifications for this release and the update reflects this. A summary of the testing performed can be found on the AHRQ QI website: http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/downloads/sas/WinQI_SAS_ComparisonTestingResults_4-1a.pdf

Summary of changes from Windows Version 4.0 to 4.1a
This release includes all changes related to the SAS 4.1 release in December of 2009. You can review those updates in this announcement for the SAS 4.1 release: http://qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/listserv_archive_2009.htm#Dec18
Additionally, you can review WinQI 4.1a specific documentation related to this release here: http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/downloads/winqi/AHRQ_QI_Windows_Software_Documentation_V41a.pdf


Summary of changes from SAS Version 4.1 to 4.1a
Changes were made to the SAS software and SAS technical documentation for this release.

Software changes fall into two categories:
 Changes to the manner in which data are reported – As part of the consistency testing, comparison testing was done between SAS and WinQI. Changes were made in how data are reported in order to provide comparable results.

 Material changes to the numerator, denominator or rate calculations – There were some unintentional omissions from the technical specifications in the software and these issues were addressed. The testing confirmed that the inclusion / exclusion logic and ICD-9-CM codes were correct and consistent with the technical specifications and the WinQI version of the software.

A detailed list of these changes can be found in the SAS 4.1a release notes: http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/downloads/sas/SAS_Release_Notes_V41a.pdf
A few of the changes require updates to the SAS 4.1 technical documentation. To accommodate these changes, an addendum document was created instead of updating the original documentation. The SAS 4.1a technical documentation addendum can be found here: http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/downloads/sas/v4%201%20to%20v4%201a%20Documentation%20Addendum.pdf

For questions, please contact support@qualityindicators.ahrq.gov or leave a voicemail at (888) 512 – 6090.

open here please:
http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov/downloads/listserv/listserv_20100702_41a.pdf