THE QUALITY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM DATABASE IN SOUTH-CAROLINA

Background: The Quality Information Management (QIM) Program was initi ated in 1987 on the basis of the decision of the South Carolina Hospit al Association's Subcommittee on Quality Assurance to develop a statew ide database that could provide member hospitals with comparative qual ity indicator data. There are ten indicators for acute care and seven for psychiatry and substance abuse. Thirty-seven acute care hospitals participate in the QIM program, as do 7 specialty hospitals. For each three-month period, participant hospitals complete a computerized soft ware report from their data sources specifying summary-level and patie nt-level data elements. Reporting of Data: Participating hospitals are provided detailed, quantitative statistical reports to help them iden tify variations for further investigation. Risk adjustment is accompli shed by peer grouping. Each hospital receives summary data for the pee r groups to which it is assigned. During the quarterly users group mee tings, participants discuss their successes and failures in collecting , reporting, and presenting indicator data. Discussion: Involvement in the QIM program has educated participants in the use of comparative d ata-bases for quality improvement activities. It is a challenge to hel p providers and practitioners, in the face of increasing demands for d issemination, become more comfortable with the release of data to the public, while still preserving some degree of confidentiality.