This project will use an objective and standardized Physician Office Appraisal Tool to identify potential risks to patient safety and to increase compliance with HEDIS and regional insurer quality guidelines in primary care office practices in the Caritas Christi Healthcare Network. Through joint collaboration between Caritas Christi Healthcare and its associated medical professional liability companies, the Physician Office Appraisal Tool will be used as an intervention to educate physicians, health care providers, and staff. The appraisal tool will evaluate individual primary care practices with regard to practice operations that directly impact patient safety and quality. Patient safety and quality metrics can be obtained before and after the intervention and subsequently benchmarked against known controls that are currently available for peers, specialty, healthcare systems and best practices. The impact of the changes anticipated through this intervention can then be prospectively analyzed in the healthcare network and the medical malpractice insurers'databases for claims analysis for outpatient ambulatory practices. This effect prospectively may translate into improved patient safety and care, and may be accompanied by decreased liability claims, and ultimately premium costs.
The majority of patient care in our nation now occurs in the office setting. Significant numbers of procedures, once done in the hospital, are likewise being performed in ambulatory office settings. Coordinated, patient focused paradigms for organizing care in the office are needed so that quality patient care and safety are optimized. A standardized Physician Office Appraisal Tool will improve patient safety and quality of care in ambulatory office practices affiliated with a large health care system while prospectively decreasing medical professional liability claims and premium costs.
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