New 2019 Direct Data Submission Platform Empowers Accredited Hospitals With Continuous Access to Quality Measure Results for Real-Time Performance Improvement
OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill., May 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Joint Commission is shepherding in the next generation of clinical quality by expanding the capabilities of its quality measure program to provide accredited hospitals with year-round, real-time access to quality measures. Over the last two years, The Joint Commission has transformed its electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) reporting process to increase value and reduce burden for thousands of their 4,500 accredited hospitals with a Direct Data Submission Platform (DDSP). The Joint Commission is now continuing that digital transformation by making the platform and quality measure results continuously available, allowing providers to measure and improve performance in near real-time without additional outside vendors.
The DDSP is the first solution to make clinical quality language-based eCQMs available to providers in an execution environment where they can generate and use the results continuously. Clinical quality language (CQL) is the new industry standard for measures, used by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for 2019 eCQM reporting, and endorsed by HL7 International. CQL brings together the underlying logic of quality measurement, clinical pathways, clinical decision support and more. It can eliminate manual translation of measures, requiring fewer resources and less time spent in measures implementation. The Joint Commission can now use a single environment to specify, develop, test, and distribute CQL measures for use.
With The Joint Commission’s DDSP, accredited hospitals now have additional tools to go beyond simply sending data one way, but using that information to improve quality performance and data accuracy in near real-time.
“What we’ve accomplished in the last two years with the Direct Data Submission Platform has delivered ongoing value for our accredited hospitals,” said Dr. David Baker, Executive Vice President for the Division of Health Care Quality Evaluation at The Joint Commission. “We’re thrilled to build on that value with continuous quality insights that empower providers to make real-time performance improvements.”
The Joint Commission has partnered with Apervita to provide the cloud platform that underpins this program by enabling providers to specify, develop, test, and execute eCQMs, as well as create and distribute applications that use them, in the cloud at scale. Apervita’s mission is aligned with The Joint Commission to reduce cost and improve quality.
“The Joint Commission’s success is paving the way for a new frontier in quality measurement,” said Apervita founder and CEO Paul Magelli. “The Joint Commission’s work is a great example of the industry benefiting from a cloud platform that removes cost and time while delivering value to providers, and ultimately, their patients.”
About The Joint Commission:
Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.
F.D.A. to Allow Use of KN95 Masks Approved by China
The masks are almost identical in performance to the N95 masks that hospitals and other institutions are struggling to find.
With doctors, nurses and other health care workers facing acute shortages of protective masks, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday that it will allow use of a more widely available mask that meets Chinese standards instead of American ones.
Hospitals across the United States are running out of N95 masks, which filter at least 95 percent of particles that are 0.3 microns or larger, including the new coronavirus. N95 masks are tested and certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, a research agency that is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Friday, the F.D.A. issued an emergency use authorization for KN95 masks. Regulated by the Chinese government, they are almost identical in performance to N95 masks. There are slight differences in their specifications, like a variation in the maximum pressure the masks must be able to withstand as a person inhales and exhales.
The C.D.C. lists KN95 masks as a suitable alternative when N95s are not available.
The F.D.A. said KN95 masks were eligible for authorization if they met certain criteria, including documentation that they were authentic.
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But many hospitals have not been willing to order KN95 masks because of uncertainty over whether imports would be allowed into the United States, as well as potential liability if they turned out to be counterfeit. But for some institutions, that may be a worthwhile risk if the alternative is no masks.
The F.D.A. had on March 24 issued a similar authorization for non-NIOSH masks that met similar standards in other countries in Europe as well as Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea and Mexico. But it left off China because of concerns about fraudulent masks.
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Many N95 masks are also manufactured in China, and the Trump administration is trying to compel companies like 3M to send more of those to the United States.Sign up to receive our daily Coronavirus Briefing, an informed guide with the latest developments and expert advice.Sign Up
One Chicago-based company, iPromo, says it has been in the KN95 importing business for a month. It had previously developed relationships with Chinese supplies for its main business, churning out custom logo-adorned promotional knickknacks like mugs, water bottles, USB flash drives and small containers of hand sanitizer.
The company’s website advertises KN95 masks at $2.96 apiece for hospitals, with delivery in five to seven days, although its minimum order is 1,000 masks.
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More masks are available because coronavirus transmission in China has been reduced. “They have so much stock,” said Leo Friedman, the company’s chief executive, during an interview Thursday. “They ramped up and now it’s a perfect storm of inventory.”
He said that he understood the quandary the F.D.A. faced because of the danger of counterfeits, but that his company obtains safety certificates and lab reports from its suppliers.
“We have an opinion that these are of high enough quality to be used in Chinese hospitals,” he said of the masks his company is importing. “And the public can make their own deductions.”Coronavirus and MasksTrump Administration Officials Weigh How Far to Go on Recommending MasksMore Americans Should Probably Wear Masks for ProtectionIt’s Bedlam in the Mask Market, as Profiteers Out-Hustle Good SamaritansShould I Start Wearing a Mask?How to Donate Your N95 Masks to New York DoctorsWhere Are All the Masks?
Kenneth Chang has been at The Times since 2000, writing about physics, geology, chemistry, and the planets. Before becoming a science writer, he was a graduate student whose research involved the control of chaos. @kchangnyt
Emilee Speck, Digital journalistPublished: Updated: Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Florida, Health
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Coronavirus update: Florida cases surpass 10,200 as hospitalizations continue to grow
Positive COVID-19 cases growing by 1,000 almost daily; death toll reaches 170
ORLANDO, Fla. – For the past week, Florida coronavirus cases have grown daily by nearly a thousand cases and on Friday positive test results catapulted Florida’s total over 10,000, the latest data from the Florida Department of Health shows.
By Friday at 6 p.m., COVID-19 cases had reached 10,268, an increase of more than 680 new cases since numbers were released earlier in the day. The state is also reporting additional deaths due to the virus, bringing the new death toll to 170 across the state, including in several Central Florida counties.
Since March 29, Florida has seen an increase of cases every day by more than 850 and on Wednesday and Thursday a surge of more than 2,000 between two days.
The Florida DOH numbers do not show how many people have recovered from the virus. Department officials have declined to release that information after several requests from WKMG. Orange County health officer Dr. Raul Pino said coronavirus patients must test negative twice in 24 hours before leaving isolation.
More than 1,330 people with coronavirus are hospitalized, according to the DOH. Nearly 60% of Florida’s available hospital beds are unavailable, according to a new database from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which is tracking available resources amid the pandemic.
Florida is now under a stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Residents and visitors are asked to limit their activity outside the home to essential activities including exercise outside, getting food and gas. Similar orders are in place across the country, only a few governors haven’t made that call.
The novel coronavirus is spread from person-to-person through droplets from sneezes or coughs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the best way to slow the spread is to avoid contact with other people.
DeSantis also announced plans this week to step in and fix Florida’s overloaded unemployment system. Hundreds of thousands of people across the state have been furloughed due to the pandemic and checks from the $2.2 billion federal stimulus bill may still be weeks away.
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