Faculty Collaboration Database

The relationship of system-level quality improvement with quality of depression care. Am J Manag Care 2004 Nov;10(11 Pt 2):846-51

Date

12/22/2004

Pubmed ID

15609738

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-16644381644 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   8 Citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship of systemwide continuous quality improvement (CQI) with depression care quality in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

STUDY DESIGN: Observational study using data from 2 VHA studies.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The Depression Care Quality Study (DCQS) was a retrospective cohort study of depression care quality in the northeastern United States involving 12 678 patients cared for at 14 VHA facilities; it used guideline-based process measures (ie, dosage and duration adequacy). The VHA CQI survey was a cross-sectional survey of systemwide CQI among a representative sample of VHA hospitals; it assessed CQI and organizational culture (OC) at 116 VHA hospitals nationwide and provided data on the 14 study facilities. We used analysis of variance to identify differences in the adequacy of depression care among these facilities. Pearson's correlation was used to identify the relationship of CQI and OC with facility-level depression care adequacy.

RESULTS: Mean depression care adequacy differed among the 14 DCQS facilities (P < .0001). Overall dosage adequacy was 90% (range: 87%-92%). Overall duration adequacy was 45% (range: 39%-64%). There was no correlation between CQI and either dosage adequacy (r= .004, P= .98) or duration adequacy (r= -.17, P= .55). Similarly, there was no correlation between OC and either dosage adequacy (r= -.35, P= .22) or duration adequacy (r= -.12, P= .68).

CONCLUSION: Although CQI may help bridge the healthcare quality gap, it may not be associated with higher disease-specific quality of care.

Author List

Charbonneau A, Parker V, Meterko M, Rosen AK, Kader B, Owen RR, Ash AS, Whittle J, Berlowitz DR

Author

Jeffrey Whittle MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Aged
Antidepressive Agents
Benchmarking
Cohort Studies
Depressive Disorder
Guideline Adherence
Hospitals, Veterans
Humans
International Classification of Diseases
Middle Aged
New England
New York
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Retrospective Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
Systems Analysis
Total Quality Management
United States
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans