by Christopher Cornue

Most likely, everyone is familiar with the Premier Demonstration Project of the past 4+ years. For those who are not … in summary, it was an opportunity for hospitals to voluntarily report their quality data to CMS through Premier, which would then be benchmarked against other hospitals. Each hospital would then be compared and would be eligible for additional payments if they achieved results in the top two deciles (20%) to baselines scores identified in Year 1 of the project. There was also an opportunity for hospitals to lose money if they fell in the bottom two deciles (bottom 20%) to baselines scores from Year 1. This project has continued beyond the original three years and will be expanding beyond the original areas of AMI, HF, Hip/Knees and Community Acquired Pneumonia.

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This project proved very successful in the United States and now, the Northwest area of England (think Manchester, Liverpool, etc.) has started a similar project call Advancing Quality, with Premier leading the efforts. I had the unique opportunity to spend time with folks leading this project in Manchester, the team at Salfold, and the project leads for each of the trusts (hospitals) within this region. They formally launched these efforts in January 2008 and have made remarkable progress. The project will last for a minimum of three years (Premier is contracted to oversee the process during the duration) and will be focusing on the same initial diseases, as the US project. Many of the processes, structures, tools, etc. created during the initial project will be developed to ensure proper data collection and adherence to the metrics identified, which are the same as the ones in the US. Additionally, many of the same challenges experienced in the US (i.e., obtaining “buy-in” from caregivers, getting physicians “on-board,” data collection & integrity, etc.) are shared by our English counterparts.

The “go-live” for the project was 1 October 2008, so they are now formally submitting and comparing data. I have no doubt that this project will be as successful for English hospitals as it has been for those in the US … mostly due to the dedication and commitment of those overseeing the project, and the leaders in the individual hospitals. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more of their successes shortly. For more information, visit their website. Cheers!