Despite its impressive morbidity and mortality statistics, quality management is the new frontier for anesthesia practices. Two factors are driving a serious interest in the technology of measuring quality indicators: a market focus on customer-service and Pay for Performance (P4P). It is no longer enough to believe your practice provides consistently superior care; you have to be able to demonstrate it empirically.
Customer service by anesthesia providers requires that the promise of the three As (Able, Available and Affable) be consistently met without hesitation. This may require provider-specific tracking and feedback on a variety of quality indicators. It may also entail the compilation and presentation of global statistics and comparative quality metrics.
Pay for Performance is clearly an evolving field and the impact on reimbursement is just beginning to be defined and felt by the average anesthesia practice. It is still unclear what the final list of P4P markers will include. This is the challenge. P4P epitomizes the dynamic reality of government involvement in medicine and reimbursement.
In both areas, ABC is the leader in providing options to its clients. Many of its key clients are active participants in formulating quality measures.
