This section of the manual describes the data elements required to calculate category assignments and measurements for The Joint Commission's National Quality Measures. It includes information necessary for defining and formatting the data elements, as well as the allowable values for each data element. This information is intended to assist in processing patient level data elements for The Joint Commission's National Quality Measures.
It is of primary importance that all health care organizations using The Joint Commission's National Quality Measures gather and utilize the data elements as defined in this section. This will ensure that the data are standardized and comparable across organizations.
Regardless of which measure sets are selected by a hospital, certain general data elements must be collected by the hospital and submitted for every patient that falls into any of the selected Initial Patient Populations. These data elements are considered "general" to each patient's episode of care. These data elements include:An Episode of Care (EOC) is defined as the health care services given during a certain period of time, usually during a hospital stay (e.g., from the day of arrival or admission to the day of discharge). The medical record should be abstracted as it was billed. In the event that there are multiple ED visits within the inpatient medical record, for the same episode of care, it is recommended that the ED visit resulting in the admission to observation or inpatient status be utilized for the purposes of abstraction.
If a patient is transferred from an acute care hospital to another acute care hospital, which is within the same healthcare system and shares the same Joint Commission Health Care Organization Identifier (HCO ID), this should be abstracted as one episode of care.Verification mechanisms are necessary to assure that zero is the intended data value rather than an initialization value for those data elements which have an allowable value of zero (i.e., 0.0, 0000, 0).
Every attempt has been made to comprehensively define The Joint Commission's National Quality Measure data elements and allowable values in a manner that obviates the need for interpretation. If, after reviewing the General Abstraction Guidelines, the data element definition, including the notes and guidelines for abstraction, an abstractor cannot clearly assign an allowable value, refer to the Resource section of this manual for additional contact information.
Data elements fall into three broad categories in order to support a specific measure set. They include:
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Data Element Name: | A short phrase identifying the data element. For each of identification the data element name is italicized. |
Collected For: | Identifies the measure(s) that utilize this data element or specifies that the data element is used for data transmission or verification. |
Definition: | A detailed explanation of the data element. A vendor may include this information in data collection software. |
Suggested Data Collection Question: | A suggested wording for a data element question in a data abstraction tool. |
Format: | Length = number of characters or digits allowed for the data element Type = type of information the data element contains (e.g., numeric, alphanumeric, date, character, or time) Occurs = the number of times the data element occurs in a single episode of care record |
Allowable Values: | A list of acceptable responses for this data element |
Notes for Abstraction: | Provided to assist abstractor in the selection of appropriate value for a data element |
Suggested Data Sources: | Source document from which data can be identified such as administrative or medical record. Some data elements also list excluded data sources that are unacceptable sources for collecting information. |
Guidelines for Abstraction: | Designed to assist abstractors in determining how a data element should be answered Note: Element specific notes and guidelines should take precedence over the General Abstraction Guidelines. |
The General Abstraction Guidelines are a resource designed to assist abstractors in determining how a question should be answered. The abstractor should first refer to the specific notes and guidelines under each data element. These instructions should take precedence over the following General Abstraction Guidelines. All of the allowable values for a given data element are outlined, and notes and guidelines are often included which provide the necessary direction for abstracting a data element. It is important to utilize the information found in the notes and guidelines when entering or selecting the most appropriate answer.
Prenatal forms which are available during the hospitalization and become a permanent part of the patient's medical record (electronic health record/EHR or paper) for the current hospitalization may be used for abstraction.
Important Note: There are several data elements where abstraction of data from documentation dated/timed after discharge is restricted, and these exceptions are published on the respective data element pages of the data dictionary. Data element specific notes and guidelines always take precedence over the General Abstraction Guidelines.
All documentation in the medical record must be legible and must be timed, dated and authenticated. However, documentation that is not timed, dated or authenticated may still be used for abstraction if not required by the specific data element. When abstracting a medical record, if a handwritten document is determined to be not legible, other documentation should be reviewed in an attempt to obtain the answer. If no other source document is able to verify the handwritten documentation, only then is the abstractor to answer unable to determine from the medical record documentation, unless otherwise specified in the data element. Authentication may include written signatures, initials, computer key, or other codes.
Data element information should be retrieved from the current medical record, covering the admission and discharge date, or reporting period for event measures being abstracted. Information ascertainable from previous history (e.g., failed trials of monotherapy) AND determined to be part of the current medical record may be used in abstraction. For example, if the patient had previously failed three or more trials of monotherapy and this information is available in the current chart being abstracted (e.g., a note made in the continuing care plan), this information should be used. Previous history information used in abstraction should be information that was part of the medical record during hospitalization, when care was being delivered.
The medical record must be abstracted as documented (taken at face value). When the value documented is obviously in error (not a valid format/range or outside of the parameters for the data element) and no other documentation is found that provides this information, the abstractor should select UTD. Example:Note: Hospitals should use abbreviations according to their policy. Frequently flow sheets or other documentation contain a 'key or legend' that explains what the abbreviation or symbol stands for, especially if unique to that facility.
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