Making Quality Real for Physicians

Conclusion

The DOMQP has been working on quality within the department of medicine for the past 10 years. We have moved from initiating an internal quality program among the specialty providers, which required education among faculty and resolve to overcome many IS challenges, to serving as a resource for hospital-wide quality-related initiatives. We have developed a successful architecture for disseminating information and guiding faculty and administrative support toward success on a multitude of metrics that have implications on both finances and sound patient care. We have navigated the significant challenges associated with the large-scale change due to the EHR transition we underwent in 2015, including clinician burnout and fatigue, new EHR functionality, and the development of a new data reporting infrastructure and governance. The DOMQP continues to demonstrate that quality has a multifaceted role to play within a hospital.

As the health care environment continues to evolve, the need for this level of support for clinics will increase. The DOMQP is well positioned to provide continuing support to physicians and their practices in measuring and improving quality, with attention paid to such areas as coordination and efficacy of care, patient-reported outcomes, patient safety, and population health management. We believe that the DOMQP can serve as a model of a departmental quality program.

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the department of medicine administration, faculty and support staff for their continuous effort and support in the work of clinical quality improvement.

Corresponding author: Sonali Desai, MD, MPH, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, 45 Francis St., PBB-B3, Boston, MA 02115, sdesai5@bwh.harvard.edu.

Financial disclosures: None.