Marc S. Williams, M.D., FAAP, FACMG - Director Intermountain Healthcare Clinical Genetics Institute, Salt Lake City, UT
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Dr. Williams had been working with a team at the Mountain States Genetics Regional Collaborative Center (MSGRCC) to explore the creation of clinical genetics quality indicators. MSGRCC is a non-profit organization providing education and information for consumers and medical professionals in the Mountain States Region including the states of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Clinical genetics is one of the fastest growing fields in medicine today, and physicians and medical professionals continue to recognize its importance in improving health care related to birth defects, genetic disorders, newborn screening and other issues. Medical industry analysts are seeing a growing need for Quality Improvement (QI) activities to define and measure outcomes in the medical genetics setting including patient satisfaction and access to services. In fact, it is anticipated that, just as hospital quality improvement programs were mandated by the Joint Commission in the early 1990s, and just as physician practice groups are being called on to demonstrate quality healthcare in the emerging pay-for-performance environment, QI in clinical genetics is inevitable. Several initiatives are already underway on a regional basis, and the American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG) is beginning to require members to demonstrate participation in quality improvement activities for expanded maintenance of certification.
QI in clinical genetics - getting started
Dendress Corporation, has begun work with Dr. Williams to provide technology and support for the nation's first clinical genetics quality improvement project that is not limited to a single institution.
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The next steps
Dr. Williams asked InheritQual, a group dedicated to bringing the traditional methods of quality and process improvement to the burgeoning world of medical genetics, to be involved in his QI project. Building on their original survey, MSGRCC developed a group of seven quality indicators which are now being piloted, through a Dendress developed web site, by a select group of clinical genetics facilities.
3 Process Measures
Referral Communications
Follow Up Plans
Appointment
Outcome Measures in 4 Major Areas
Patient Contact Time
Information Given To Patients
Respect
Partnerships in Care
There are currently 27 genetics units contributing data which will ultimately be reviewed, benchmarked and presented to the MSGRCC for feedback. Following the pilot phase, the indicators will be reviewed, refined further and finalized for national and international implementation. "Dendress is providing IT support and refining the system." concluded Dr. Williams.
Contact Dendress Corporation for more information on customized software solutions for your application.
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 What Dendress Did |
| Dendress worked with Dr. Williams to customize a web-based data collection system to further the development of key indicators. According to Dr. Williams, this system is a critical component of the pilot program. "The IT technology we are developing provides an efficient and easy-to-use method not only for data collection, but for encouraging participation from those in the medical genetics field across the country," he explained.
"In addition to key indicators development, the system promotes communication, the sharing of genetic resources and information, and the coordination of like studies."
"We have worked very well with Ron Brooks, president of Dendress Corporation, on this project and they have played a key role in its continuing success," concluded Dr. Williams. "Ron is an excellent collaborator and is extremely responsive to input from end-users, using their feedback to improve on everything from collecting the data to modifying the user interface."
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| Development Flow |
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In 2005 Dendress met with a newly formed, international group exploring the development of standardized quality indicators for medical genetics. The group became known as Inherit Quality International.
International opinions were solicited, results were analyzed and papers written. Dr. Williams contacted the group to take their work to the next level.
Dendress was invited to meet with both groups to design an efficient and user friendly method to test the collection of an agreed upon set of indicators by a select group of pilot sites in the United States.
Within two months of conception, data was being collected across eight states and 27 Genetic Service locations.
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