MSPQI update: capturing data for system improvement

The Measurement System for Physician Quality Improvement (MSPQI) is an initiative that is helping the health care system capture data to continuously inform health care planning and patient care in BC.

The initiative is in its early stages with the government, Doctors of BC and health authorities working to find a consistent and measurable way to collect data by concentrating on five medical service areas - Surgical/Procedural Care, Primary Care, Specialists/Specialized Care, Acute and Emergency Care, and Diagnostics. Each medical service area will have a measurement group, which includes representatives from the government, Doctors of BC, health authorities and patients.

The MSPQI Steering Committee is co-chaired by Dr Ken Hughes and Dr Guy Fradet. Dr Hughes recently presented MSPQI’s progress to the Surgical Quality Action Network in February 2019 and was pleasantly surprised to learn about 25% of the physicians in attendance knew about MSPQI. Dr Hughes notes, “We are building on what has been developed in the past and looking at what we have currently – in order to build a comprehensive system for the future.”

Recent activities

The Surgical/Procedural Care with Chair Dr Pierre Guy, orthopedic surgeon and Primary Care with Chair Dr Cecile Andreas, GP Quality Measures Groups was established in late 2018. Phase one of MSPQI is close to completion, once the Steering Committee submits its final report along with a budget and work plan for Phase 11. Both the Surgical/Procedural Care and Primary Care groups are selecting a set of initial quality measures to recommend. In addition, the Technical Working Group is developing a roadmap for building the virtual data environment needed to support multi-level access to quality measures data.

Dr Hughes, “physicians recognize the challenges we are facing and have expressed concern that the information will be used in a negative fashion. The principles and objectives we have developed as part of the MSPQI Framework ensures that the data will be used for the stated purpose of informing health care planning and patient care. Physicians will use the quality improvement data to guide their own practice, allow physicians for comparisons within peer groups, and won’t include the identity of individual patients or other physicians.”

Next steps

Quality measure selection for the MSPQI is guided by the BC Health Quality Matrix, which was created through the collaboration of the BC Health Quality Network to provide a common understanding and framework for defining the quality of care. Using the matrix, The Surgical/Procedural measurement group has completed measurement for Safety and expects to continue the review and selection of Accessibility measures, as well as begin the development of a physician participation plan.

Once Phase 11 has been approved, work will move forward on establishing the other three quality measurement groups, which are Specialists/Specialized Care, Acute and Emergency Care, and Diagnostics. Physicians will continue to be part of the MSPQI process as the work moves forward and we will continue to update you as milestones are reached. Doctors of BC is working with the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council the organization acting as Secretariat of the MSPQI to ensure information is shared as this work progress.  If you have any questions or concerns, e-mail us at: View Email Addresscommunications@doctorsofbc.ca.
 
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