Remember, when we say Accreditation Hacks – the word ‘hack’ is a good thing! We provide timesaving hacks while improving quality. With our tips, suggestions and resources you have the ultimate combination of quality and ease. Our goal is to allow you to focus on excellence and to practice the highest level of quality possible with ease and simplicity
Where do you begin? We always recommend selecting Report Completeness as the first QI Measure to complete. Why? Because it’s the easiest to complete! You will enjoy a sense of accomplishment as you check your first completed measure off your list!
Let’s bring you up to speed real quick! In Part 1 of our blog series we reviewed the new IAC Quality Improvement Measures that now include:
In Part 2 we revealed the ultimate accreditation hack with new accreditation software called AccreditCoach. For the rest of the series we will break down the QI measures into bite size tasks that can be performed by everyone. So get ready to jump in to your first QI Measure…. Report Completeness!
This measure requires evaluating final reports for completeness and timeliness. All modalities must complete this measure but only echo (adult and peds.) specifies the required number of 10 reports. We suggest all modalities pull at least 10 reports to review.
Sounds simple enough but by breaking the task down into baby steps that are small, quick and easy to accomplish you will be surprised the impact this will have on maintaining compliance. You only need to pull 10 reports that you can quickly print and put to one side. You’re already half way through this measure!!
Pulling 10 reports was an easy quick step to get your feet wet with the QI program. Now what? The next step of report review can be just as painless with the right tools! The right tool for this task is a report checklist. Not a generic form asking if all demographics, measurements and report components are present, but rather, a detailed list of each required item. As consultants we automate this process through software but prior to software development we created a line by line checklist for each modality. Imagine you’re holding a report in your hand (Echo, vascular, nuclear, etc.) and I ask you if all the required demographics are included in the report?…could you answer that immediately without knowing the IAC reporting standards?? Now imagine instead I ask you specific questions like:
See how much easier that is? Imagine how that opens up the possibilities of who can complete this QI measure!
So you have heeded our advice, created a Report Review form and broke the Report Completeness Measure down into 2 steps. You gathered your 10 reports one week and put them aside (in less than 15 minutes!) The following week you used your new forms to complete your report review and again, you did this in less than 15 minutes! Everything is going great……but wait…… the reports are not compliant!
With first time accreditation this is expected! Even if you are an accredited lab it’s common to find the reports sometimes start to slip a little after accreditation. No worries! Remember, the theory behind QI Measures is that anything that is looked at gets better! Just by checking the reports for completeness and identifying areas that are missing you are already making progress towards improvement.
Remember the point of any QI Measure is to identify areas for improvement. It’s ok to identify these areas; it’s just not helpful to ignore them! Here are some tips to help improve report completeness.
Next week we will review another required QI Measure and share our timesaving hacks that allows you to achieve accreditation with quality and ease. Remember, the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission is always happy to answer questions and they provide a wealth of resources on their website. In addition, our team at CardioServ is always just a phone call away. Don’t be shy! Give us a call, schedule a free consultation and follow us on social media!
