Coordination of clinical information and management across levels of care

"This set of indicators comprehensively address the different attributes of clinical coordination in main transitions across levels of care."

Development and testing of indicators to measure coordination of clinical information and management across levels of care
MB Aller, et al.
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:323

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Focus on: International comparisons of healthcare quality

" It is encouraging that the UK is stable or improving on almost all the indicators (25 out of 27), and we hope that the UK can at least maintain but ideally increase the speed of improvement."

Focus on: International comparisons of healthcare quality: What can the team learn?
L Kossarova, I Blunt, M Bardsley
Quality Watch: The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
July 2015

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Focus on: social care for older people

"This report describes the scale and nature of reductions in publicly funded social care budgets and services for older adults in England between 2010/11 and 2012/13."

Focus on: social care for older people
S Ismail, R Thorlby, H Holder
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
March 2014

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Is the quality of care in England getting better?

"The ability of the health system in England to monitor quality is increasing and, partly in response to the Francis Inquiry, there have been large changes in the range of ways that quality is assessed and measured."

Is the quality of care in England getting better? QualityWatch Annual Statement 2013
The Health Foundation, Nuffield Trust
November 2013

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Using aggregate measures to assess the quality of NHS hospitals

"Quality in the NHS is complex, with information often resting in different places in different formats, with little or no linkage or context."

Quality at a glance: using aggregate measures to assess the quality of NHS hospitals
MHP Health Mandate
March 2013

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A pilot qualitative study to explore stakeholder opinions regarding prescribing quality indicators

"Prescribing quality indicators are considered to be an important tool for assessing quality of provided diabetes care by all participants, although the preferences for specific types of indicators may differ by stakeholder depending on their user aim."


A pilot qualitative study to explore stakeholder opinions regarding prescribing quality indicators
L Martirosyan, J Markhorst, P Denig, FM Haaijer-Ruskamp, J Braspenning
BMC Health Services Research, 2012, 12:191


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Use of quality indicators to promote accountability in health care

"In this commentary, the authors hope to stimulate innovation in the field of health care performance measurement."

The use of quality indicators to promote accountability in health care: the good, the bad, and the ugly
AJ Forster, C van Walraven
Open Medicine, 2012, 6(2)

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Helping hospitals deliver better care: a new toolkit for quality improvement

"The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) contracted with a team of researchers from RAND and the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), a large collection of academic medical centers, to develop a toolkit for hospitals to support their quality improvement efforts based on the AHRQ quality indicators."

Helping hospitals deliver better care: a new toolkit for quality improvement
RAND Health
May 2012

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Access the toolkit here.

Postmenopausal osteoporosis management

"This report aims to inform the development of quality indicators for postmenopausal osteoporosis management through:
(a) assessing the evidence for screening and diagnosis of osteoporosis and related risk factors, and for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures;
(b) describing current practice for managing postmenopausal osteoporosis in Europe; and
(c) highlighting existing gaps in the evidence base and management practices in Europe."

Postmenopausal osteoporosis management: a review of the evidence to inform the development of quality indicators
A Conklin, O Yaqub, C Celia, E Nolte
RAND Europe
April 2012

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Incentive payments are not related to expected health gain in the pay for performance scheme for UK primary care

"When designing pay for performance programmes decisions about the size of the financial incentive attached to an indicator should be informed by information on the health gain to be expected from that indicator."

Incentive payments are not related to expected health gain in the pay for performance scheme for UK primary care: cross-sectional analysis
R Fleetcroft, N Steel, R Cookson, S Walker, A Howe
BMC Health Services Research, 2012, 12:94

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Guideline-based development of quality indicators

"For the efficient development of high-quality quality indicators, rigorous, approved, and evidence-based development methods are needed."

Methods for the guideline-based development of quality indicators - a systematic review
T Kotter, E Blozik, M Scherer
Implementation Science, 2012, 7:21

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Improving performance on the AHRQ quality indicators

"This toolkit is a general guide to using improvement methods with a particular focus on the Quality Indicators from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality."

Access the guide here.