DCMH launches new quality assessment tool for Rehab Services
1/16/2009
Door County Memorial Hospital wants to know how the quality of its medical rehab services compares to other health care providers in the U.S.
The hospital’s Rehab Services Department is now participating in Focus on Therapeutic Outcomes, Inc. (FOTO). FOTO is a nationwide outcomes database for medical rehabilitation providers.
DCMH, a part of Ministry Health Care, will receive its first quarterly FOTO report in late January.
Deb Whitelaw Gorski, the hospital’s director of Rehab Services, said FOTO goes beyond patient satisfaction research, which is already being collected at the Sturgeon Bay hospital. Each quarter, FOTO’s comparative report suggests effectiveness and efficiency of treatments offered by Rehab Services. Data will be used to further enhance therapy services, and reports will be shared with physicians, employers and insurers, as well.
“It is good to know our patients are happy. But we also want to know if we treated their shoulder injuries in five weeks, as compared to seven. And we want to find out that our patients made functional changes as compared to national outcomes,” Whitelaw-Gorski said.
“And we will be using the data to share with physicians and employers—to show them what we are doing well,” she continued.
What will patients notice during their Rehab Services appointments? The data collection process begins just prior to their first appointment with a therapist. Patients will be asked a few questions and their answers will be recorded in a database. For example, questions will be asked to learn how well the patient is functioning and dealing with their pain or discomfort. Questions are adjusted according to each patient’s age, gender, impairment and more.
After a few therapy sessions, people may be asked to answer additional questions. Then, a report is made at the conclusion of therapy services.
DCMH/MHC regularly submits standard data to FOTO. Ann Rankin, occupational therapist, values having quantitative data to make decisions about the services she offers her patients.
“It helps us to have hard data—instead of our own thinking. This is another piece of the puzzle. This wraps it all together,” she said.
And she feels she doesn’t have to wait for the quarterly report to come in from FOTO before she enhances patient care. After patients complete questionnaires, therapists see the responses.
“We have that information upfront before we see the patient—it’s instant,” she said. “We are doing this to help find out what we might have missed. It helps us focus.”
Ultimately, FOTO assists therapists as they set goals for patients, according to James Evers, physical therapist.
“It helps give some input to how treatment should go--to get people back to normal function. And it tells us if we are doing it effectively,” Evers said.
The quarterly reports will be analyzed for best practices by the Rehab Services team. For example, two therapists may do extremely well treating patients’ shoulder injuries. Others, who perhaps don’t score as high, may require education or benefit from hearing tips from their colleagues.
“We hope to use the data to validate the good we believe we do and to use it for teaching within the department so we can make things better,” Whitelaw-Gorski said.
“We will get discussion going on what we are doing differently, or we may find out we are as good at treating back injures, for example, as other providers nationally.”
FOTO has provided outcome data to rehabilitation providers since 1994. More than 1,700 organizations contribute to the FOTO database. According to FOTO, the collected data will be beneficial by providing a benchmark to which overall quality and value of services offered by a rehabilitation provider can be judged.
DCMH/MHC has Rehab Services locations in Sturgeon Bay (at the hospital and in the Cherry Point Mall), Algoma and at Scandia Village, Sister Bay. For more information about FOTO or to make an appointment with a therapist, call Rehab Services, 920/746-0410.