Educating the provider community about the new role of the peer review organization

This report suggests an educational format that has been used successfully in Michigan to introduce the Health Care Quality Improvement Initiative to the medical community. The activities related to pattern analysis and the Fourth Scope of Work will require a collaborative effort between the medical community and the peer review organization (PRO). To improve understanding by providers and practitioners of pattern analysis, the Fourth Scope of Work, and the new PRO requirements, a series of educational programs was designed. The first presentation in the educational series included information about the changes between the Third and Fourth Scope of Work as well as the new structure within the PRO responsible for the pattern analysis activities: the Center for Health Outcomes and Evaluation. Descriptions of the process to be followed in interactions between the Center and providers and practitioners also were included: For the second session, a hands-on exercise was created to introduce the concept of a pattern. The exercise included graphic representations of patterns and a worksheet format to encourage the user to find specific data points within tables and graphs, describe a pattern in hospital outcome data, and verify that the same outcome pattern appeared in subgroups of hospitals and physicians. The third component in the educational series was a demonstration of the interaction between the Center and a hospital participating in a cooperative improvement project. Hospital-specific and physician-specific data, with appropriate comparative data, were provided to an audience made up of hospital administrators, practicing physicians, and allied health personnel who then worked through the issues related to data validation, definition of a project, agreement on interventions, and remeasurement of the outcome under study.