Btw, the National Quality Forum just debuted a beta version of its
Quality Positioning System today. It's an online tool meant to allow
users to search for NQF-endorsed quality measures depending on what
setting you're in, the condition, data source, etc.

http://www.qualityforum.org/QPS/

Cheers,
Judah

On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 2:15 PM, Dana <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I'm not familiar with that group, but I'll try to look at them.
> "Patient-centered" sounds like it might address some of the problems I
> was just talking about. I myself was talking about the standards put
> out by professional groups, stuff like this:
>
> http://www.guidelines.gov/syntheses/synthesis.aspx?id=16427
>
> http://www.guidelines.gov/syntheses/synthesis.aspx?id=16405
>
> I discovered while looking for an example that there's a .gov site
> that gathers them. I suppose this is a first step to rationalizing the
> process. And probably, in most cases, a good guideline will improve
> outcomes. The process needs to be responsive enough to deal with the
> situations I describes above though, not an easy goal for a big
> system.
>
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 10:45 AM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> All good points, and this is why doctors don't like the governments ideas of 
>> "accountable care" organizations.
>>
>> I have my own example too where i was told by my PCP and a specialist that 
>> condition X could not be controlled with action Y.  Then I proved them both 
>> wrong.
>>
>> That said I would still say what's important is that they advise and start 
>> with the NCQA best practices.  If a patient wants to deviate, fine, but 
>> document it and document why.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 25, 2011, at 2:28 AM, Dana <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I'm not convinced that suckage folllows. I don't want to get into the
>>> specifics of my example on the spidered internet, but look at the
>>> range of treatment options for high blood pressure, diabetes and high
>>> cholesterol. For example. That's a big chunk of preventable illness
>>> there, but there could be good reasons to treat those particular
>>> conditions with anything from heavy-duty meds with serious possible
>>> side effects to a diet and exercise program.  And the deciding factors
>>> are all n the patient side : will they really change their diet? Are
>>> they more afraid of the condition, or of the side effects? Do they
>>> believe that they themselves have the power to make a difference? Will
>>> they actually fill the prescription? I'm not an expert on these
>>> conditions as I don't have them, but I imagine that there are
>>> measurable data points as well... how high is the cholesterol, what's
>>> the family history.... but look at how much the other factors matter.
>>>
>>> The *are* situations where standards of care are appropriate. The
>>> author of that book -- a Harvard medical professor btw -- mentions
>>> heart attacks at the ER. I've said before myself that I almost prefer
>>> to see a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner for primary care.
>>> They tend to be less harried and to listen better and I'm pretty sure
>>> a lot of them are in fact methodically going down a list. That's how I
>>> got scheduled for a sleep study, which did me vast amounts of good.
>>>
>>> However. If the standard of care for a condition is x, and *then* a
>>> study comes out saying that in a couple of hundred patients followed
>>> for five years, x turned out to cause serious injury in oh half the
>>> patients, and yet did no better than a placebo, I really really want
>>> my doctor to not be afraid of telling me that lest he or she get a
>>> black mark for deviating from the standard of care. Because they would
>>> be of course, if the academy of whatever has not yet held a committee
>>> meeting on the subject.
>>>
>>> That said, perhaps there's an algorithm that takes all this into
>>> account? But I suspect that there are too many unknowns from the
>>> doctor's point of view.
>>>
>>> I strongly suggest you take a look at that analysis when you get a
>>> chance. I found it quite thoughtful and quite damning.
>>>
>>> Dana
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat,ep 24, 2011 at 11:36 PM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote
>>>>
>>>> Oh, and definitely docs should be measured on how they well follow 
>>>> diagnosis and treatment best practices, I.e. "quality".  If they work 
>>>> outside of them, then the measure is on outcomes.
>>>>
>>>> Who wants to go to a doc that doesn't follow industry best practices for 
>>>> diagnosis and treatment and who's outcomes suck?
>>>> On Sep 24, 2011, at 11:46 PM, Dana <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> meh. I read it. The main point seemed to be that someone might lose a
>>>>> laptop. That's a valid concern but it's not specific to the federal
>>>>> government. I'm not entirely sure that the Examiner reporter read the
>>>>> regulation. I have pretty high tolerance for wonkish stuff, and  I have to
>>>>> say that my eyes glazed over...But here's what I got out of a skim:
>>>>>
>>>>> There's a concern that insurers will have many new patients with deferred
>>>>> medical issues which will increase insurer risk for a few years, They are
>>>>> proposing a reinsurance program, how heinous ;) It also looks like they're
>>>>> suggesting that some insurers could use technical support for data 
>>>>> analysis
>>>>> as well. And if they're going to spend money they want to be able to audit
>>>>> the programs that get it. I would too.
>>>>>
>>>>> The Examiner seems to be up in arms about the feds looking at data, but
>>>>> yanno... they already do have the very large datasets from Medicaid and
>>>>> Medicare. They are asking for comment on how best to handle this. The 
>>>>> nerve
>>>>> of them ;)  They also say that although HIPPA does not strictly apply they
>>>>> want to use it as a standard anyway. Like everyone else in the medical 
>>>>> field
>>>>> does, or perhaps should would be a better word.
>>>>>
>>>>> What I don't see is any indication that they're proposing to go through
>>>>> patient charts and line by line require justification for each 
>>>>> expenditure.
>>>>> You know. Like your current insurance does?
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 10:02 PM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> All provider claims for risk adjusted Medicare advantage are currently
>>>>>> submitted to CMS's RAPS system, but it only requires 5 fields.  Soon they
>>>>>> will be getting full 837 claims via the new EDPS system.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's very common to run analytics on this data for purposes of finding
>>>>>> under treated patients.  You can even power campaigns by using the lack 
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> data.  For example, no physical therapy claim after knee surgery, or no
>>>>>> vasodilator if the patient is HCC 16 (diabetes w vascular 
>>>>>> complications), or
>>>>>> even simply no PCP visit this year.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In other words, seems like the government already has this data, however
>>>>>> given their historical expertise in manipulating it I wouldn't be too
>>>>>> worried.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> That said I didn't read the link :)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sep 23, 2011, at 10:00 PM, Robert Munn <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> cool, thanks!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 7:49 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I don't think this is accurate. I glanced at the rule when it was
>>>>>>>> proposed and there hasn't been any uproar in the medical world that
>>>>>>>> I've seen, so I'm dubious. But I don't know for certain. I'll do some
>>>>>>>> investigation and try to reply back here in a couple days.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Judah
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
> 

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