Quality Improvement Metrics and Methods for Neurohospitalists

Measurement of clinical performance is largely driven by the requirements of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and accrediting bodies like The Joint Commission. Performance measures include length of stay, readmission rate, mortality rate, hospital-acquired complications, and stroke core measures. Hospital rankings also depend heavily on quality and patient safety indicators. Becoming facile with these measures can aid neurohospitalists in understanding their value and garnering resources to support improvement projects. Neurohospitalists can apply a structured A3-based method to define a clinical problem, perform systematic analysis, then design and test solutions to drive improved outcomes for patients with neurologic disease.