Wound Care Quality in Numbers: Discrete Data Drives Meaningful Reports

The mandate from the federal government regarding patient safety and quality assurance is quite clear: Capture, analyze, and report data in a “meaningful way.” This is accomplished through the use of a certified electronic health record (EHR), the Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Program, and strategic facility planning for ICD-10-CM. By capturing data in discrete, reportable fields, the options for report generation are nearly limitless. But how is data best compiled in a meticulous fashion as it relates to wound care? The answer lies in how one optimizes available technology and the creativity established in one’s data mining.

Blended Timelines: Meaningful Use & ICD-10-CM

The coming year will be a memorable one in healthcare as we implement Stage II of Meaningful Use and transition to ICD-10-CM. The path to Meaningful Use focuses on technology while ICD-10-CM focuses on billing with a clear intersection focusing on clinical documentation. To successfully implement and achieve both mandates, the wound care community needs to embrace three key building blocks:

1. Workflow – optimize clinical, operational, and financial processes to fully leverage technology.
2. Certified Specialty Wound Care EHR and Reporting Suite – discrete data fields focused on specific wound care elements and medical-necessity requirements that support documentation standards, enhance outcomes, and optimize reimbursement.1
3. Meaningful Data Reports – develop core reports to manage wound care practice; generate quality reports and utilize the data to improve patient and facility outcomes; provide Meaningful Use reports for provider attestation.

Achieve Meaningful Use
Transitioning to a certified EHR is vital to meet Meaningful Use criteria set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in order to:2

• improve quality, safety, and efficiency, and reduce health disparities;
• engage patients and family;
• improve care coordination, population, and public health; and
• maintain privacy and security of patient health information.

The objectives of Meaningful Use over five years include:1

• Stage I – focus on data capture and sharing (2011-12)
• Stage II – focus on advanced clinical processes (2014)
• Stage III – focus on improved outcomes (2016).

Read the rest of the article at Today’s Wound Clinic.

This excerpt is from an article originally published in Today’s Wound Clinic, written by Cathy Thomas Hess, BSN, RN, CWOCN, VP and Chief Clinical Officer at Net Health.