Quality and Performance Management

Question 1

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Answer 1

The health services research arm of the US Department of Health and Human Services; the lead federal agency for research on healthcare quality, costs, outcomes, and patient safety.

Question 2

Balanced scorecard

Answer 2

A framework for displaying system-level performance measures; a component of a structured performance management system that aligns an organization’s vision and mission with operational objectives.

Question 3

Benchmarking

Answer 3

Comparison of one’s own organization with other companies to learn about potential best practices.

Question 4

Case managers

Answer 4

Experienced healthcare professionals (e.g., doctors, nurses, social workers) who work with patients, providers, and insurers to coordinate medically necessary and appropriate healthcare services.

Question 5

Charter

Answer 5

A written declaration of an improvement team’s purpose.

Question 6

Clinical paths

Answer 6

Descriptions of key patient care interventions for a condition, including diagnostic tests, medications, and consultations, which, if completed as described, are expected to produce desired outcomes.

Question 7

Clinical practice guidelines

Answer 7

Systematically developed statements that help practitioners and patients make decisions about healthcare to be provided in specific clinical circumstances.

Question 8

Continuous quality improvement

Answer 8

Analyzing performance of various processes and improving them repeatedly to achieve quality objectives.

Question 9

Core measure project

Answer 9

A performance measurement project sponsored by The Joint Commission.

Question 10

Data analytics

Answer 10

The science of examining raw data with the purpose of drawing conclusions about that information.

Question 11

Discharge planning

Answer 11

Evaluation of patients’ medical and psychosocial needs for the purpose of determining the type of care they will need after discharge from a healthcare facility.

Question 12

Eight types of waste (muda) eliminated during Lean projects

Answer 12

Movement, waiting, overprocessing, defects, inventories, transportation, design, overproduction.

Question 13

Evidence-based measures

Answer 13

Data describing the extent to which current best evidence is used in making decisions about patient care.

Question 14

Failure mode and effects analysis

Answer 14

Systematic assessment of a process to identify the location, cause, and consequences of potential failure for the purpose of eliminating or reducing the chance of failure; also called failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis and healthcare failure mode and effects analysis.

Question 15

Fishbone diagram

Answer 15

Graphic representation of the relationship between outcomes and the factors that influence them; sometimes called an Ishikawa or cause-and-effect diagram.

Question 16

Flowchart

Answer 16

Graphic representation of a process.

Question 17

Hazard analysis

Answer 17

The process of collecting and evaluating information on hazards associated with a process.

Question 18

High-reliability organization

Answer 18

An entity or business with systems in place that are exceptionally consistent in accomplishing goals and avoiding potentially catastrophic errors.

Question 19

Lean

Answer 19

A performance improvement approach aimed at eliminating waste; also called Lean manufacturing or Lean thinking.

Question 20

Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award

Answer 20

A recognition conferred by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program to US organizations demonstrating performance excellence.

Question 21

Medically necessary

Answer 21

Appropriate and consistent with diagnosis and, according to accepted standards of practice in the medical community, imperative to treatment to prevent the patient’s condition or the quality of the patient’s care from being adversely affected.

Question 22

Pareto chart

Answer 22

A special type of bar graph that displays the most frequent problem as the first bar, the next most frequent as the next bar, and so on; also called Pareto diagram.

Question 23

Peer review

Answer 23

Review of professional performance by professionals with similar training and experience.

Question 24

Performance expectations

Answer 24

The minimum acceptable or desired level of quality.

Question 25

Quality

Answer 25

Perceived degree of excellence.

Question 26

Quality assurance

Answer 26

Evaluation activities aimed at ensuring compliance with minimum quality standards; used interchangeably with quality control to describe actions performed to ensure the quality of a product, service, or process.

Question 27

Quality management cycle (three activities)

Answer 27

Measurement, assessment, and improvement.

Question 28

Quality planning

Answer 28

Setting quality objectives and specifying operational processes and related resources needed to fulfill the objectives.

Question 29

Rapid cycle improvement

Answer 29

An improvement model that supports repeated incremental improvements in a practice to optimize performance.

Question 30

Risk analysis

Answer 30

The process of defining, analyzing, and quantifying the hazards in a process, which typically results in a plan of action undertaken to prevent the most harmful risks or minimize their consequences.

Question 31

Root cause analysis

Answer 31

A structured process for identifying the underlying factors that caused an adverse event.

Question 32

Sentinel event

Answer 32

An adverse event involving death or serious physical or psychological injury (or the risk thereof) that signals the need for immediate investigation and response.

Question 33

Six quality aims (Institute of Medicine)

Answer 33

Healthcare that is safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient, and equitable.

Question 34

Six Sigma

Answer 34

A disciplined methodology for process improvement that deploys a wide set of tools following rigorous data analysis to identify sources of variation in performance and ways of reducing the variation; Six Sigma quality is a rate of fewer than 3.4 defects per 1 million opportunities (i.e., the process is 99.99966 percent defect free).

Question 35

Stakeholder analysis

Answer 35

A tool used to identify groups and individuals who will be affected by a process change and whose participation and support are crucial to realizing successful outcomes.

Question 36

Standards

Answer 36

Performance expectations established by individuals or groups.

Question 37

Statistical process control

Answer 37

The application of statistical methods to identify and control performance.

Question 38

Utilization review

Answer 38

A process for monitoring and evaluating the use, delivery, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare services.