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The Quadruple Aim
Quadruple Aim

A Conceptual Framework

Improving the U.S. health care system requires four aims: improving the experience of care, improving the health of populations, reducing per capita costs and improving care team well-being. HITEQ Center resources seek to provide content and direction aligned with the goals of the Quadruple Aim

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Accessing Data for QI

As adoption of EHRs has increased, so have the concerns about ability to access the data needed to drill down into quality improvement efforts or even reporting requirements. Depending on the type of system being used, data may be cloud based, on a remote server, or on a local server. Further, data may be accessible through preprogrammed, ad hoc, or custom reports, but there may be greater challenges to accessing raw data or data that can be analyzed for quality improvement purposes. Resources in this section address these challenges and provide actionable information for accessing the data needed.

Accessing your Data
Clinical Data Elements for UDS eCQMs and their Lookback Timeframes
HITEQ Center
/ Categories: EHR Selection and Implementation, EHR Selection, EHR Implementation, Health IT Enabled QI, Accessing Data for QI, Foundation for HIT Enabled QI, Improving Performance

Clinical Data Elements for UDS eCQMs and their Lookback Timeframes

Useful for EHR transition planning; developed in 2023.

Each electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) is composed of data elements in the EHR or health IT system that are evaluated according to the measure specifications.
It is important to identify what data elements need to be transitioned to any new EHR for clinical quality measure continuity and accuracy. This resource identifies clinical data elements in eCQMs that should be considered when transitioning EHRs. These data elements are used in reporting or calculating eCQMs, so their availability or lack thereof in any new EHR system will impact reporting accuracy.

Download the file below for the data elements


When selecting, upgrading, or transitioning EHRs, patient safety is of paramount importance. That is not covered in this reference; refer to the SAFER guides for best practices in ensuring patient safety.

Each health center and potentially any vendor(s) involved in the transition will need to determine if these data elements, as defined in the eCQM are in their current systems, and, if so, how that data will be moved into any new system, including form and length of time.

The clinical data elements resource, available for download below, may be useful in informing RFPs, discussions, or negotiations about data transition. This process of ensuring alignment with eCQMs is a key step, not only in facilitating the transition of legacy clinical quality measure data to a new system, but also as health centers prepare for the transition to patient level submission with the implementation UDS+.

The UDS Data Elements table, in the second tab of the downloadable file below, lists out data elements in eCQMs reported in the annual UDS report that require historical data for accurate evaluation (e.g., a ‘lookback period’ is defined in the measure for the data element).

The table on the UDS Data Elements tab includes data element, related eCQM, description, timeframe (i.e., how far back the given measure looks for data element, and therefore the length of historical data that should be available for the new EHR system to assess), relevant code sets, and CQL structure. For a full list of related codes, download value set details from the Value Set Authority Center.

 

 

Review the full information in the downloadable file below.

 

 

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Documents to download

Related Resources

Acknowledgements

This resource collection was compiled by the HITEQ Center staff with guidance from HITEQ Advisory Committee members and collaborators of the HITEQ Center.