Frequency: Quarterly
Measure Type: Process
Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Utah use the CheckPoint System to collect and organize data on the quality of care on hospitals. They offer a consumer-friendly website explaining the different types of measures used in their reports. The public is informed of the various health plans, which patients can choose from.
CheckPoint has fourteen clinical measures of quality, which started in 2005. Six of these measures are on heart attacks, four measures on congestive heart failure, and four measures on pneumonia. The information from their site is available to the public. CheckPoint uses patients who are listed under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS updates their data quarterly. It includes all patients, no matter the type of payer they use.
Wisconsin is currently (Fall 2007) working on adding mortality, volume, and utilization measures available to the public. The information is derived using the Agency for Health Care Research (AHRQ) and the Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQI) methods.
New Mexico’s CheckPoint System has collected information on 34 of their acute and critical access hospitals.
Fifty hospitals in Utah participated in the CheckPoint program. The majority of the Utah patients who are admitted go to one of these fifty hospitals.