Quality of Care
Measuring Quality
Not all medical centers and physicians are alike. Differences in quality matter most when you need sophisticated medical care for a complex condition. The doctor and medical center you choose will have a direct impact on your care - especially when you need treatment for a serious condition or disease.
Quality is measured in many different ways. While there is no universal agreement on which method should be used, the following criteria are often cited as quality indicators:
Medical Center Accreditation
The Joint Commission (JC) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits nearly 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. JC accreditation is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards. To earn and maintain accreditation, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a JC survey team at least every three years. Our JC information is available on the JC Accreditation page of this web site and at www.jointcommission.org.
Physician Training
Board certification, or the international equivalent, means that doctors have completed specialized training that a specialty board requires. To earn board certification, physicians must have practiced for a specified period of time and then pass a difficult written and oral examination. Board certification is generally accepted as a good indication of competence and experience. Ask your physician about her or his board certifications. Additionally, some physicians are also board eligible, meaning they have completed necessary education and training and are waiting a required period of time before taking their board exam.
Experience Matters
For complex specialized care, experience matters. According to the Annals of Internal Medicine (September 17, 2002), the majority of studies find a lower patient mortality rate for a given procedure when the medical center or physician has high-volume experience performing that procedure. Medical centers with a wide range of services treat more complex medical conditions. These hospitals are better equipped to manage complications, should they occur. Additionally, for complex diseases your physician has more treatment options available.
OSF Saint James' Emergency Department is staffed with physicians from the Level I Trauma Center at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria. And OSF Saint James' close proximity to OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington and OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria means that many highly trained specialists are available for consultation and treatment related to a wide range of complex conditions.
Satisfied Patients
Patient satisfaction often reflects how willing doctors and nurses are to listen, answer questions and explain treatments; how much time doctors spend with patients; and if the medical center is clean and the food is good. Patient satisfaction data can predict how satisfying your experience is likely to be. Patient satisfaction information can be found on our Patient Satisfaction page.
Other Sources of Health Care Quality Information
Several industry and government organizations provide information about health care quality and some have proprietary reporting tools. The information these organizations provide can help you make informed, accurate decisions about healthcare quality.
Warning: Different agencies and consumer reporting sites use different definitions, data sets, and time periods and have different (or nonexistent) ways of normalizing data for comparisons (severity adjustments).
Therefore, comparisons between sources are not "apples to apples" and comparisons within a single source have to be carefully analyzed before accurate conclusions can be made (read the fine print!).
Joint Commission (JC)
JC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) developed a set of research-based quality indicators that are used across the nation. They have established standardized measures of quality in selected patient populations including acute myocardial infarction (AMI), community acquired pneumonia (PN), congestive heart failure (HF), pregnancy and related conditions and surgical procedures. OSF Saint James is currently participating in AMI, PN and HF. This information can be found on our Quality Reports page, in the JC report on OSF Saint James that is linked to our JC Accreditation page, and the CMS website.
The Leapfrog Group
The Leapfrog Group was founded in November 2000 by the Business Roundtable and has support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Leapfrog's mission is to trigger giant leaps forward in the safety, quality and affordability of health care by: supporting informed healthcare decisions by those who use and pay for health care; and, promoting high-value healthcare through incentives and rewards. More than 165 Fortune 500 corporations and other large private and public sector health benefits purchasers have joined The Leapfrog Group, representing more than 36 million enrollees. For more information, visit the Leapfrog Group website.
The NRC Consumer Choice Award
National Research Corporation (NRC) annually provides Consumer Choice Awards for the most-preferred hospitals in more than 140 U.S. Markets. Winners are selected from the nation's most comprehensive, nationwide consumer health care profile, the NRC Healthcare Market Guide. Data represents consumer surveys from nearly 140,000 households in the U.S. Consumer Choice Awards for hospitals are based on consumer preference responses. For more information, visit the NRC website.
Healthgrades
Healthgrades is a private company that uses Med Par public data and proprietary severity adjustment methodology to rank organizations on a scale of 1-5 "stars" with 5 being excellent. Problems abound with this data, which is two to three years old before it is released, and Healthgrades issues its stars based on three years of data. As a result, Healthgrades is not a true reflection of any medical center's current practices. In addition, its severity adjustment methodology can not be reproduced. Another limitation is that Med Par data includes only Medicare patients who are over 65 years old and who are cared for in the inpatient settings.
Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care
The Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care (IFQHC) is the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for the State of Illinois. QIOs work with physicians and health care professionals to promote high quality medical care for Medicare beneficiaries. IFQHC is contracted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to perform the designated quality improvement activities. For more information on IFQHC, visit the IFQHC website.
Illinois Department of Public Health
The Illinois Department of Public Health is responsible for protecting the state's 12.4 million residents, as well as countless visitors, through the prevention and control of disease and injury. The Department's nearly 200 programs touch virtually every age, aspect and cycle of life. For more information, visit the IDPH website.
