The development of a stroke clinical pathway: an experience in a medium-sized community hospital

Patients with acute ischemic strokes were studied in a medium-sized community hospital in Mississippi. Studies were done before and after implementation of the stroke clinical care pathway with emphasis on the following clinical indicators: 1) performance of a brain CT scan, 2) the search for the etiology of the stroke, 3) whether the patient was treated emergently for hypertension, 4) the use of measures to prevent deep-vein thrombosis, and 5) prophylactic drug treatment against recurrent stroke after hospital discharge. Following application of the clinical pathway, there was a significant improvement in all the clinical indicators that were felt to require further attention and none had a setback. The length of hospital stay was decreased, and there was no significant increase in the hospital costs in the post-pathway study despite an increase in the number of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed. When applied properly, clinical pathways can effectively mobilize hospital resources, maximize quality of care, and at the same time minimize costs.

Outpatient diabetes management of Medicare beneficiaries in four Mississippi fee-for-service primary care clinics

BACKGROUND

As part of a quality improvement initiative aimed at increasing physician compliance with standards of care for diabetes patients, diabetes practice patterns among Medicare beneficiaries in four primary care clinics were examined in Mississippi.

METHODS

Retrospective chart reviews of Medicare beneficiaries with a diagnosis of diabetes were conducted to examine physician compliance with recommended diabetes monitoring services.

RESULTS

Fifty-three percent of all beneficiaries did not have a recorded A1c test while 54 percent did not have a recorded foot exam. The percentage without foot exams decreased with quarterly visits. Seventy-two percent and 68 percent of patients had testing for lipids and proteinuria, respectively, although variability in types of testing performed was seen. Seventy-six percent of beneficiaries did not have a referral for a dilated eye exam.

CONCLUSIONS

The study has uncovered, within several primary care sites in Mississippi, variable documentation of compliance with many clinically relevant recommendations relating to the care of elderly patients with diabetes. These items can be targeted for improvement as part of a statewide quality improvement initiative for Medicare beneficiaries.

Cooperative stroke management project by a peer-review organization

To improve the care of patients in Mississippi through increased adherence to nationally accepted ischemic stroke management guidelines, patterns for ischemic stroke services were determined from hospital chart review. Hospital-specific education and data feedback were performed to encourage international systems improvements. The Mississippi Foundation for Medical Care, Inc, reviewed records of Medicare beneficiaries discharged with the principal diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke from four hospitals over a 1-year period. Records were analyzed for compliance with stroke management guidelines. Hospital-specific and aggregate data were presented to the staffs of each hospital and the hospitals were encouraged to develop internal quality improvement projects. The Foundation reviewed 427 records of acute stroke patients, of whom 375 (87.8%) had ischemic stroke. Among the 427 stroke patients, there were 76 (17.8%) in-hospital deaths. Notable variances from the ischemic stroke management guidelines included those for emergent hypertension management, deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, evaluation for cause of ischemic stroke, and use of antithrombotic therapy on discharge of ischemic stroke patients. Thus, the management of acute stroke patients in these four regional hospitals in Mississippi often differed from nationally accepted guidelines. We hope to improve the care of stroke patients by using the expertise of academic stroke physicians and hospital-specific analyses that are personally meaningful but not personally threatening to treating physicians.

Gallbladder surgery for Medicare patients in Mississippi

Mississippi Foundation for Medical Care (MFMC) conducted a review of gallbladder surgery performed on Mississippi Medicare Patients using hospital claims files and limited record review for verification of claims file data. Significant error rates in the surgeon identification number were found in the claims files. It should also be noted that the current ICD-9-CM coding system does not allow for identification of laparoscopic cholecystectomies converted to open procedures. Past studies have attempted to use claims data alone for these types of analyses. These findings demonstrate the importance of using caution by those attempting to use claims data (without verification) to define patterns of hospital utilization, clinical outcomes and/or physician profiling. Claims data must be tested for validity for reliable pattern analysis. In addition, considerable variation was found among providers in elements such as conversion rates, complication and readmission rates. A few surgeons showed patterns for critical variables that were quite different from the universe. There was however, no statistically significant differences associated between volume of cases performed and outcomes. Time frame comparisons over several years show significant (> 80%) increase in gallbladder surgery since the introduction of the laparoscopic procedure.

Trauma

The need for planning and development of statewide trauma prevention and trauma service systems is or should be a high priority--if one sets priorities on criteria that address important factors such as cost to benefits in reduction of life years lost and reduction of disability and costs of long-term rehab services, etc. Prevention of injury and first class trauma care will lessen our heavy human burdens (loss of life and disability) and reduce our long-term outlays for rehabilitation, etc. Obviously our first line of intervention should be prevention--all educational, regulatory and automatic protectors (seat belts, gun restrictions, air bags) that will lower injury rates. A state trauma system must be planned for the larger universe than individual institutions or communities. We must educate our public that the only practical way to provide services for major trauma is through regionalized systems that they somehow must help support. The recent emphasis on making the health services industry a "competitive market" has discouraged public interest and support for regionalized health systems. Our best chances for funding such systems are probably through user fees, sin taxes and surcharges on fines, etc. We need the elements or principles of a plan and present it to the public and to their representatives in the courthouses, city halls and state capital of our state. We need to generate public discussion and understanding on the problem, the potential for saving lives and preventing disability. To do any less would mean our failure to meet our duties as health professionals and public health officials.