Joint Commission seeks 75 volunteer hospitals to participate in pilot testing of Blood Management Performance Measures

COMPANY NEWS - Hospitals will be randomly selected based on hospital characteristics (size, location, services) in order to ensure a representative sample of hospitals. The majority of the following measures that are included in the pilot test, apply to patients > 3 months of age:

• Blood Administration Documentation
• Transfusion Consent
• RBC Transfusions
• Plasma Transfusions
• Prophylactic Platelet Transfusions
• Preoperative Anemia Screening
• Preoperative Blood Type Screening

The pilot test will begin in February 2010 through July 2010. Participants will be asked to retrospectively abstract a six-month sample of inpatient discharges from 2009 using a web-based electronic tool. All measures must be abstracted if applicable. The objectives for pilot testing include:

• Evaluation of the reliability of the individual measures and associated data elements
• Enhancement of measure specifications including: definition, abstractor guidelines
• Assessment of the data collection effort
• Assessment of sampling strategies

A two-hour web conference call will be scheduled in February 2010 to review the measure specifications and provide data abstraction training for the pilot test. Technical support will be provided throughout the data collection phase. Approximately 12 hospitals will be randomly selected for an on-site reliability visit by Joint Commission staff during summer 2010.
Hospitals that are interested in participating in the pilot test need to complete this survey: Blood Management Pilot Testing Information by January 15, 2010.