QAPI Program Utilization_Manual

THE KEY TO QUALITY ASSURANCE AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT (QAPI) What is QAPI? QAPI is the merger of two complementary approaches to quality management, Quality Assurance (QA) and Performance Improvement (PI). Both use quality-based information but differ in key ways. QA is a process of meeting quality standards and assuring that care reaches an acceptable level. QA is a reactive, retrospective effort to examine why a facility fails to meet certain standards. QA activities do improve quality, but efforts frequently end once the standard is met. PI (also called Quality Improvement - QI) is a pro-active, continuous study of processes with the intent to prevent or decrease the likelihood of problems by identifying areas of opportunity and testing new approaches to fix underlying causes of persistent/ systemic problems. PI can make good quality even better. Who is responsible for our QAPI program? Amend thaou Director of Nursing, Clinical Manager is the Agency head of our QAPI program, each one of us, individually, has an obligation to serve the patient, whether we are directly or indirectly involved in providing a health care activity. We are all responsible for providing quality health care, and that is the KEY to Quality Assurance. If you think "quality" in relation to your job function, the end result is "Quality Assurance". Our HHA will organize, manage, and administer our resources to attain and maintain the highest practicable functional capacity, including providing optimal care to achieve the goals and outcomes identified in the patient’s plan of care, for each patient’s medical, nursing, and rehabilitative needs. Our HHA will assure that administrative and supervisory functions are not delegated to another agency or organization, and all services not furnished directly are monitored and controlled. Our HHA will set forth, in writing, our organizational structure, including lines of authority, and services furnished. Governing body. A governing body (or designated persons so functioning) will assume full legal authority and responsibility for the agency’s overall management and operation, the provision of all home health services, fiscal operations, review of the agency’s budget and its operational plans, and its quality assessment and performance improvement program. 11