QUALITY TODAY

One of the aims of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) was to alleviate pain healthcare providers experience as a result of quality measures reporting requirements. Although MACRA was designed to streamline performance reporting by consolidating programs – including the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), the Value Modifier Program, and the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program – compliance with MACRA’s quality reporting requirements is still, as expected, a challenge for clinicians and providers across the industry. Therefore, outsourcing quality measures abstraction remains a good option for healthcare providers because it allows for better use of internal resources to do what healthcare professionals do best: Take care of patients.

For hospitals, finding staff that is experienced in data abstraction can be difficult. The shortage of trained abstractors forces many hospitals to rely on nurses or other self-taught professionals to perform abstraction. At Primaris, we consult with hospital teams and provide abstraction training and support to healthcare organizations across the country – and that is in addition to building our own team of expert abstractors. Our experience working with different provider organizations, and also growing our team of Primaris abstractors, has enabled us to define some of the qualities and skills that are necessary for performing abstraction successfully. Below are some ideal traits and skills hospitals should look for when choosing team members to groom as abstractors.