RESOURCES

To view a description and link to these key resources in healthcare quality, simply click on the letter next to the name. Additional resources on key issues, best practices and tools of the trade are available in the Members Only section.

A	Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)
B	Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) / Provider Comparisons
C	Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) / Patient Safety Organizations
D	Baldrige National Quality Award
E	Florida Legislature – lawmakers, pending bills
F	Florida Sterling Council
G	Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI)
H	Joint Commission / Quality Check / National Patient Safety Goals / Sentinel Events
I	National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
J	National Quality Forum (NQF)
K	Quality Monitor
L	Robert Woods Johnson Foundation
M	URAC
N	VA National Center for Patient Safety / National Association for Healthcare Quality

 

Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)

The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, also known as the Accreditation Association or AAAHC, was formed in 1979 to assist ambulatory health care organizations improve the quality of care provided to patients. Currently accrediting over 3,800 organizations, the AAAHC is the leader in ambulatory health care accreditation.

 

Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA)

Florida State Agency responsible for the administration of the Medicaid program, for the licensure and regulation of health facilities and for providing information to Floridians about the quality of the health care they receive in Florida. The website provides comparative data on providers (see next url) and lists of Florida health care facilities.

• http://www.FloridaHealthFinder.gov

Part of AHCA, this is the site which provides comparative data on hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, physicians, health plans, nursing homes, and prescription drugs.

 

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care through research on health care quality, costs, outcomes and patient safety. AHRQ's mission includes both translating research findings into better patient care and providing policymakers and other health care leaders with information needed to make critical health care decisions.

The AHRQ provides best practices, funding for research, and created the CAHPS program for CMS which measures patient satisfaction with healthcare providers and systems. Provides annual dashboard on healthcare quality by State. Established Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs).

Information on Patient Safety Organizations on the AHRQ website.

 

Baldrige National Quality Program

The Baldrige Award is given by the President of the United States to businesses—manufacturing and service, small and large—and to education, health care and nonprofit organizations that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results. This site provides information on criteria for excellence, past award recipients and conferences.

 

Florida Legislature

Enter your zip code to find your State Senators and Representatives.
List on left of page provides connections to pending bills, committees, sessions and Florida Statutes.

 

Florida Sterling Council

In 1992, Florida began using the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to recognize organizations in Florida who utilize the Baldrige methods to improve quality. The Florida Sterling Council has assisted organizations in utilizing proven standards of excellence as a guide to making improvements that generate better operations, customer value, and overall results through regional training programs and on-line resources.

 

Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization helping to lead the improvement of health care throughout the world. IHI works to accelerate improvement by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping health care systems put those ideas into action. Provides courses, information on best practices, some interactive tools.

 

The Joint Commission

• Home page

• Quality Check: Search for specific health care organizations to see how they rate on Core Measures and National Patient Safety Goals

• National Patient Safety Goals by types of organizations:

• Sentinel Events

 

National Committee for Quality Assurance

NCQA is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, including health insurance plans (HEDIS), credentials verification organizations (CVO), health information products, physician organizations (PO), utilization management/credentialing and reviews special health care management programs for physician recognition in the areas of back pain management, diabetes, heart/stroke, and patient-centered medical home.

 

National Quality Forum (NQF)

The National Quality Forum (NQF) is a not-for-profit membership organization created to develop and implement a national strategy for health care quality measurement and reporting. Consisting of public and private organizations, the HQF has a trifold focus: patient outcomes, workforce productivity, and health care costs. Members include the Joint Commission, the Leapfrog Group, the AARP, universities, State Agencies, as well as multiple provider groups from the hospital, insurance, physician and pharmaceutical industries. This organization is a strong driver of current legislative and regulatory efforts related to quality. In May 2008, endorsed 48 voluntary consensus standards on patient safety and patient care for acute care hospitals. Created the push for “never events” now used by CMS.

 

Quality Improvement Monitor

This is a free weekly e-publication which summarizes quality issues from The Joint Commission and CMS presented in the Quality Improvement Report, a for fee 12 page weekly publication.

 

Robert Woods Johnson Foundation

This is a private organization which supports research into healthcare with the goal of improving the health and health care of all Americans. This site provides best practices, updates on research projects, and a wealth of information for the quality practitioner.

 

URAC

URAC, an independent, nonprofit organization, which offers a wide range of quality benchmarking programs and services, including accreditation services in the area of Case Management and health plans.

 

VA National Center for Patient Safety

The NCPS was established in 1999 to develop and nurture a culture of safety throughout the Veterans Health Administration. Their goal is the nationwide reduction and prevention of inadvertent harm to patients as a result of their care. The site provides a Falls Toolkit, results of multiple FMEA performed across VA facilities, hazard summaries and best practices.

National Association for Healthcare Quality

The National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ) is the nation's leading organization for healthcare quality professionals. Founded in 1976, NAHQ currently comprises more than 5,000 individual members and 100 institutional members.