The Implementation of Measuring What Matters in Research and Practice: Series Commentary

Kathleen T Unroe; Katherine Ast; Elizabeth Chuang; Dena Schulman-Green; Robert Gramling; AAHPM Research Committee Writing Group

doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.07.030

The Implementation of Measuring What Matters in Research and Practice: Series Commentary

J Pain Symptom Manage. 2017 Nov;54(5):772-775. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.07.030. Epub 2017 Jul 17.

Authors

Kathleen T Unroe¹, Katherine Ast², Elizabeth Chuang³, Dena Schulman-Green⁴, Robert Gramling⁵; AAHPM Research Committee Writing Group

Collaborators

AAHPM Research Committee Writing Group:
Rebecca A Aslakson, Katherine Ast, Ronit Elk, Kimberly K Garner, Robert Gramling, Corita Grudzen, Arif H Kamal, Sangeeta Lamba, Thomas W LeBlanc, Ramona L Rhodes, Eric Roeland, Dena Schulman-Green, Kathleen T Unroe

Affiliations

¹ Indiana University Center for Aging Research, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Electronic address: kunroe@iu.edu.
² American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
³ Palliative Care Services, Department of Family and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA.
⁴ Division of Acute Care and Health Systems, Yale School of Nursing, West Haven, Connecticut, USA.
⁵ Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA.

PMID: 28729008
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.07.030

Abstract

The Measuring What Matters (MWM) initiative identified 10 indicators of high-quality palliative and hospice care. Members of the AAHPM Research Committee, through a special series of articles, examined applications of the MWM quality indicators in research and practice settings. Many themes were present in these articles, including the important role of electronic health records in quality measurement, challenges and strategies for implementing and tracking measures over time, and the importance of identifying new measures. This article is the final commentary of the series and includes recommendations for next steps in quality measurement.

Keywords: Quality metrics; palliative care; quality improvement.

MeSH terms

Electronic Health Records
Hospice Care / standards*
Humans
Palliative Care / standards*
Quality Assurance, Health Care*
Quality Indicators, Health Care*