Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Chooses 3M APR-DRG Software for New Quality Measurement Tool.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

SALT LAKE CITY--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 20, 2001

3M Health Information Systems, a division of 3M company, announced today that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a public health service agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has selected 3M All Patient Refined (APR) DRG Software as a severity adjustment tool used in its next generation of AHRQ Quality Indicators.

The AHRQ Quality Indicators are a set of free software tools that measure multiple dimensions of health care quality using hospital discharge data. They are the latest refinement of the HCUP (Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project) Quality Indicators, first released in the early 1990s as a starting point for hospitals and health care systems to begin quality assessments. The AHRQ Inpatient Quality Indicators, a set of 29 provider- and area-level indicators relating to utilization, mortality and volume have been refined using 3M APR-DRG Software. 3M APR-DRGs are used to identify statistical differences in mortality, severity, resource use and patient care across health care organizations. Information about access to the AHRQ Quality Indicators is available at www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup.

Norbert Goldfield, M.D., medical director for 3M Health Information Systems, says that accurate information about the quality of health care services is critical as the nation continues to experience fundamental changes in health care delivery. "For comparisons to be fair and equitable, any analysis must account for differences in case mix across institutions and communities. By using 3M APR-DRGs to refine the Inpatient Quality Indicators, AHRQ can ensure that the data analysis is consistent and meaningful."

3M APR-DRG Software uses sophisticated clinical logic to classify patients into similar severity-of-illness and risk-of-mortality groupings. Comparisons can be made in terms of length of stay, cost and certain outcomes, so that variances from the norm can be identified and addressed. The software describes the complete cross-section of patients in the acute care setting in order to provide hospitals, consumers, payers and regulators with accurate data for evaluating the quality and cost performance of individual hospitals. Today, APR-DRGs are used in more than 2,000 health care settings and 3M APR-DRG Software is the preferred severity adjustment tool of state agencies, state hospital associations and business coalitions in 26 states.

According to Dr. Goldfield, today's regulatory environment makes it imperative that health care organizations understand how they perform when it comes to patient treatment, resource utilization and quality measures. "The question hospitals often face is `how and where do we focus quality improvement or intervention programs?' " Goldfield says. "3M APR-DRG Software provides health care organizations with quantifiable information, adjusted for severity, so that facilities can quickly and accurately identify significant issues and take decisive action to make improvements."

The AHRQ sponsors and conducts research that provides evidence-based information on health care outcomes, quality, cost, use and access. The Quality Indicators, developed through a contract with the UCSF-Stanford Evidence-based Practice Center, provide an accessible and low-cost method of identifying potential problems in quality of care for health care organizations developing quality assessment programs. More information about AHRQ and the Quality Indicators is available at www.ahrq.gov.

3M Health Information Systems is an international leader in clinical information management, with products ranging from medical records coding systems to a comprehensive computer-based patient record system. Consulting, implementation, training and process improvement services also are provided. 3M products are based on open architecture and industry standards; they interface with legacy systems and offer fast implementation and a timely return on investment. 3M Health Information Systems is a division of 3M, a diversified technology company with a health care business consisting of over 10,000 medical, surgical, consumer, home health care, dental and pharmaceutical products. More information about 3M Health Information Systems is available on the Internet at www.3Mhis.com or by calling 1-800-367-2447.

3M is a trademark of 3M company.