CORE MEASURE ABSTRACTION

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

Direct Difference Delivered Timely, Accurate Data Abstraction in support of UCLA Ronald Reagan’s participation in the Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Quality Initiative. UCLA received a Certificate of Achievement with a Three Star Rating! For more information about SVS/VQI, please go to www.vqi.org. Ask how we can help with your VQI data by clicking here.

Direct Difference Accurate Data Abstraction for UCLA Ronald Reagan Med Ctr Certificate of Achievement Award

Core Measures, Data Abstraction and Accountability

Core Measure Abstraction Leaders since 1998

Direct Difference offers robust support for data abstraction and core measures that includes consultation, data abstraction, data registries, core and non-core measures. We constantly monitor and update our compliance with initiatives from CMS (Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services), JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), and other organizations.

Data Registry
Abstraction

Direct Difference supports accurate, reliable data abstraction of clinical data registries. Our commitment is excellence.

Core Measures &
Data Abstraction

We have been abstracting and supporting core measure abstraction since its inception. We offer unparalleled expertise.

Medical Records
Research/Peer Review

Ask us about our customized processes for OPPE and FPPE reviews for Emergency, Medical, Surgical, Anesthesia Services.

Technology & Software
Solutions

We’re an effective and efficient partner, with extensive affiliations and support for specialized technology and software.

Our goal is to help you grow a sustainable organization that constantly improves the quality of healthcare services.
Direct Difference leads the industry with full compliance and implementation of the latest abstraction techniques and requirements. Our staff are professional healthcare administrators who simply must stay on task with data registries as they are being developed and released.
Direct Difference also offers custom data collection and analysis for hospital-specific needs including internal audits that will enhance internal staff abstraction accuracy rates and increase your compliance with

  • IRR (Interrater Reliability)
  • CAAR (Category Assignment Agreement Rate)
  • EHR/EMR (Electronic Health Records/Electronic Medical Records)
  • Meaningful Use-Validation Data
  • Medical Record Research and Academic Abstraction
  • Concurrent/Retrospective Review

Research organizations and academic institutions often need support for medical record abstractions related to their research projects. This is a specialized and unique abstraction where Direct Difference truly make a difference.

We implement and monitor all current and future core and non-core measure sets. But you’ll also find that we’re a high touch, high performance company. Call us for a quote.

Quality is the REAL Direct Difference.

IRR (Interrater Reliability)

An inter-rater reliability assessment or study is a performance-measurement tool that measures how the responses of one provider agrees with a given standard. The assessment helps validate the responses of the provider and can provide a metric regarding training and application of standard operating procedures and protocols. As a result of the assessment, you may find any range of management guidelines:

  • To minimize the variation in the application of clinical guidelines and protocols.
  • To evaluate staff ability to identify avoidable situations.
  • To evaluate staff ability to identify quality-of-care issues.
  • Target specific management and operational areas that are in most of improvement.
  • Target individual staff and/or departments that need additional training.

CAAR (Category Assignment Agreement Rate)

CAAR is a voluntary data validation program proposed by the Joint Commission. CAAR was developed to increase data reliability, and for that reason the program features one-to-one comparison of the original abstraction (and abstractor) and a re-abstraction. While currently voluntary, Direct Difference expects that the program will eventually become mandatory. Current objectives include a re-abstraction of 12 cases per quarter sampled from abstractions previously submitted to the Joint Commission. CAAR’s objective is to determine a level of consistency in abstraction and to facilitate corrections in abstraction methodology. As of now, the Information is not publicly reported. Information from the re-abstractions are not currently reflected in reports from the original submissions.

Chart Abstraction Protocols

  • AMI: Acute Myocardial Infarction
  • CAC: Children’s Asthma Care
  • Inpatient ED: Emergency Department
  • HF: Heart Failure
  • HBIPS: Hospital Based Inpatient Psychiatric Services
  • Global Immunization: Immunization – Influenza
  • PC: Perinatal Care
  • NB: Perinatal Care-Baby Focus
  • PN: Pneumonia
  • STK: Stroke
  • SCIP: Surgical Care Improvement Project
  • VTE: Venous Thromboembolism
  • SUB: Substance Use
  • TOB: Tobacco Treatment
  • HOP AMI: Hospital Outpatient Acute Myocardial Infarction
  • HOP CP: Hospital Outpatient Chest Pain
  • HOP ED Throughput: Hospital Outpatient Emergency Department Throughput
  • HOP Pain Management: Hospital Outpatient Pain Management
  • HOP Stroke: Hospital Outpatient Stroke
  • HOP SCIP: Hospital Outpatient Surgical Care Improvement Project

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