Developing an "Out of the Box" Quality Improvement Library for Lung Diseases

Project Abstract Phrase Health is a clinical decision support (CDS) analytics company that empowers health systems to efficiently incorporate scientific knowledge into high value clinical care through iterative, data-driven improvements. CDS is a process for enhancing health‐related decisions and actions with pertinent, organized clinical knowledge and patient information. While CDS has improved outcomes in sickle cell disease, myocardial infarction, and many other diseases, its impact has been inconsistent. Continuous evaluation of CDS is critical to achieve consistent improvement in outcomes, but evaluating CDS is burdensome for health systems and often not performed. To address these challenges, Phrase Health developed a product called Outcomes that offers a self-service guided walkthrough for quality improvement (QI) advocates of variable experience levels to (1) rigorously evaluate the impact of CDS on clinical outcomes and (2) convert data-driven insights into action. The approach has early market traction with advanced technical users. However, user feedback cites a need for “out of the box” QI templates (defined as abstracted definitions for CDS interventions, cohorts, measures, and their associations) to provide more structure and guidance. To address this market demand, we will generate a library of “out of the box” QI templates accessible to Outcomes customers for select lung diseases. In Aim 1, we will translate two QI project templates already established by partner systems within our platform: (1) emergency management of asthma and (2) emergency management of bronchiolitis. These QI project templates will be iteratively improved based on user feedback and then assessed for different measures of value. In Aim 2, we will use our authoring platform to develop two de novo projects: (1) emergency management chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and (2) ambulatory chronic management of asthma in patients ≥12 years old. Like Aim 1, these will be iteratively improved based on user feedback and then assessed for value. We will additionally calculate the time and costs associated with developing a de novo QI project template using our authoring platform. At the end of this project, we will have demonstrated a library of “out of the box” QI templates focused on a varied set of lung diseases, but also assessed the necessary investments required to scale to a larger QI library. These data will begin to address the market’s demand for an “out of the box” library of QI templates and quantify future investment needs, allowing us to commercialize and accelerate the translation of knowledge into better health outcomes and support improved health system profitability in a value-based reimbursement environment.