sábado, 6 de febrero de 2016

Expert Nominations for Quality Indicators Standing Workgroup

Notice of request for expert nominations to a Standing Work Group (SWG) for the AHRQ Quality Indicators (QIs)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is seeking nominations for a Standing Work Group (SWG) to be convened by an AHRQ contractor.
The work group shall comprise individuals with knowledge of the AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs), AHRQ Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQIs), International Classification of Diseases Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM) code sets, and associated methodological issues. The Workgroup will focus initially on the AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) and issues related to the International Classification of Diseases Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM) code set conversion and AHRQ Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQIs). The AHRQ PSIs are a set of indicators providing information on potential in-hospital complications and adverse events following surgeries, procedures, and childbirth. The AHRQ IQIs reflect quality of care inside hospitals and include inpatient mortality for certain procedures and medical conditions; utilization of procedures for which there are questions of overuse, underuse, and misuse; and volume of procedures for which there is some evidence that a higher volume of procedures is associated with lower mortality. 
The purpose of the SWG group is to engage stakeholders in the refinement of the AHRQ Quality Indicators (QIs).  
Composition of the Standing Workgroup
The standing workgroup will consist of a diverse group of clinicians and other individuals from a variety of disciplines and settings with expertise and interest in quality measurement and improvement. Membership of the standing workgroup is expected to include individuals with expertise in the following areas:  
  • One or more currently practicing clinicians in all of the relevant disciplines, including internal medicine, surgery, anesthesiology, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and others
  • One or more individuals with inpatient nursing and/or nursing management experience
  • One or more individuals with experience using AHRQ QI measures for assessing hospital performance and/or public reporting
  • One or more individuals with expertise in developing algorithms for relevant quality indicators using administrative data
  • One or more individuals with expertise in validating ICD–9–CM codes using chart abstraction (to assess criterion validity), or assessing their accuracy in identifying individuals at risk for specific adverse outcomes (predictive validity)
  • One or more individuals with experience using HCUP or similar data for the purpose of quality measurement
  • One or more individuals with knowledge of ICD–9–CM and ICD–10– CM coding guidelines and practices
  • One or more individuals with advanced expertise in statistical and analytic methods for patient outcomes data and quality measurement
Time Commitment
The standing workgroup will convene by teleconference up to four times during calendar year 2016, which will include a total time commitment of approximately 8 hours of meeting time and 12 hours of review time.
Nominee Submission Criteria
Submission criteria include the following:  
  1. A brief nomination letter highlighting experience and knowledge in the use of the AHRQ QIs, including any experience with the National Quality Forum (NQF) and its Consensus Development Process. The nominee’s profession and specialty, and the spectrum of his or her experience related to the QIs should be described. Please include full contact information of nominee: Name, title, organization, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and email address.
  2. Curriculum vita (with citations to any pertinent publications related to quality measure development or use).
  3. Description of any financial interest, recent conduct, or current or planned commercial, non-commercial, institutional, intellectual, public service, or other activities pertinent to the potential scope of the workgroup, which could be perceived as influencing the workgroup’s process or recommendations. The objective is not to prevent nominees with potential conflicts of interest from serving on the work group, but to obtain such information so as to best inform the selection of workgroup members, and to help minimize such conflicts.
Nominee Selection Criteria:
Selection of standing workgroup members will be based on the following criteria:
  • Knowledge of and experience with health care quality measurement using administrative data, including issues of coding, specification, and risk adjustment
  • Peer-reviewed or other publications relevant to developing, testing, or applying health care quality measures based on ICD-coded administrative data
  • Knowledge of current quality measurement methodologies published in the literature
  • Clinical expertise in the use and applications of the AHRQ QIs
  • Knowledge of the NQF Consensus Development Process.
The selection process will be adapted to ensure that the standing work group includes a diverse group of clinicians and other individuals from a variety of disciplines and settings.
Submission Process
Please submit nominations on or before February 19, 2016. Self-nominations are welcome. Third-party nominations must indicate that the individual has been contacted and is willing to serve on the workgroup. Selected candidates will be contacted by AHRQ no later than March 7, 2016.
Nominations should be sent in the form of an email with an electronic attachment, and should specifically address the submission criteria as noted above. Please include the following phrase in the subject line: QI STANDING WORKGROUP NOMINATION. Responses should be submitted to: QISupport@ahrq.hhs.gov.
Direct questions about the standing workgroup and nominations to:  QISupport@ahrq.hhs.gov.

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