“There’s only a few months left,” says Patti Garibaldi, director of clinical consulting at Consonus, with a tone of urgency in her voice. “After November 27, 2017, you will need to be able to present a QAPI plan to regulatory agents who enter your building. So where is your QAPI today?”
That’s a question Patti asks a lot these days, of all her clients. She’s an expert in quality assurance and process improvement—otherwise known as QAPI—and she knows how important it is for facilities to develop a QAPI plan. She urges them to start by doing a deep dive into their clinical practices, evaluate training, look closely at what competitors are doing and review quality measures.
She sees the enhanced and newly updated QAPI rules as being in the best interests of the patients being served. “At its root, this is about protecting our clients, providing the best care we can, and achieving the best outcomes.”
In embracing QAPI, Patti believes live data analytics are critical in measuring and proving everything a facility is doing to prevent adverse outcomes and demonstrate value to referral sources.
Though QAPI done right can be incredibly complex, with a well-defined plan, a commitment to improvement and access to live data analytics, you’ll be poised to tell your facility’s story with confidence and power.