AHRQ Quality Indicators (AHRQ QIs)

Established by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), AHRQ Quality Indicators are used with hospital inpatient discharge data to provide a perspective on quality. These indicators are grouped into four categories:

• Volume indicators: Proxy, or indirect, measures of quality based on counts of admissions during which certain intensive, high-technology, or highly complex procedures were performed. These are based on evidence suggesting that hospitals performing more of such procedures may have better outcomes.
• Mortality indicators for inpatient procedures: Include procedures for which mortality has been shown to vary across institutions and for which there is evidence that high mortality may be associated with poorer quality of care.
• Mortality indicators for inpatient conditions: Include conditions for which mortality has been shown to vary substantially across institutions and for which evidence suggests that high mortality may be associated with deficiencies in the quality of care.
• Utilization indicators: Examine procedures whose use varies significantly across hospitals and for which questions have been raised about overuse, underuse, or misuse.

Qsource works with two AHRQ academic grantees providing heart health practice facilitation services to physician practices in Alabama and Tennessee.