Cleveland Health Quality Choice (CHQC)--an ongoing collaborative, community-based outcomes assessment program

Area of Science:

• Healthcare management
• Public health initiatives
• Comparative effectiveness research

Background:

• The Cleveland Health Quality Choice (CHQC) program is a community-based initiative.
• It aims to enhance healthcare service delivery through data collection and dissemination.
• A consortium of business, hospital, and medical leaders coordinates this effort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of the CHQC program in improving hospital performance.
• To provide comparative public data on hospital quality.
• To evaluate ICU patient outcomes using the APACHE III system.

Main Methods:

• Routine collection and dissemination of patient interventions and outcomes.
• Inclusion of Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III data in ICUs.
• Collection of severity and prognostic data for ICU patients.

Main Results:

• A higher percentage of ICU patients were identified as low-risk for adverse outcomes compared to national APACHE III benchmarks.
• Risk-adjusted mortality rates in participating ICUs were lower than predicted.
• Length of stay for ICU patients was shorter than predicted.

Conclusions:

• Cooperative public efforts can yield valuable data for hospital quality improvement.
• Objective risk estimates support market-based health reform.
• The CHQC program demonstrates successful collaboration among diverse stakeholders for healthcare enhancement.