Date of Award
Fall 2016
Access Restriction
Campus Access only Research Projects
Degree Name
Dual Degree in Master of Science & Master of Business Administration
Department
Systems Engineering and Leadership Program
School or College
Seaver College of Science and Engineering
First Advisor
Frederick Brown
Abstract
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is slowly transforming the U.S. Health Care System from a fee-for-service structure, which reimburses providers based on the quantity of patient encounters, to a new structure that emphasizes the value of care. Since value can be interpreted differently among various stakeholders, quality measures have been established by government and nonprofit sources. These quality measures serve as agreed-upon criteria by which to measure the achievement of value in health care. While these measures help to improve the quality of health care, they can also be burdensome to physicians and health care organizations. Implementation of quality measurement programs requires the involvement of highly intelligent people who think about what to measure, what to focus on, and how to accomplish outcomes. Thus, the process of selecting measures and compiling recommendations (reports) can be time consuming, complicated, and expensive.
Applying SELP coursework fundamentals, key process activities outlined by INCOSE, and the DoD Architectural Framework, a quality measure information system was developed. The primary business objective (top level requirement) of the project was to reduce the cost and improve the quality of the measure selection and report generation processes. First, fundamental systems engineering principles were applied to understand the problem, conduct a lean analysis, identify stakeholders' needs, and derive a set of requirements to meet the primary business objective. Subsequently, five alternative solutions were evaluated to identify a preferred solution that could best meet the primary business objective while minimizing risk. The DoD Architectural Framework and course material from Integration of Hybrid Hardware and Software Systems (SELP 560) was then applied to develop, represent, and understand the information system architecture. Finally, leveraging Management Information Systems Coursework (MBAA 609), a system prototype was created utilizing Microsoft Access.
The system prototype demonstrated a capability to reduce the cost and improve the quality of the health care quality measure selection and report generation processes. Utilizing pre-selected associations between various quality measures and categories of care, comprehensive quality measure reports can be generated in a matter of seconds for many categories of medical care. These comprehensive reports serve to educate users about various quality measures and to aid administrators in the development of comprehensive quality measurement programs. In one particular example, health care organizations will utilize the generated quality measure reports for the purpose of redesigning compensation and incentive pay for physicians and health care executives. In this particular example, estimates show that the system prototype is expected to reduce the labor associated with measure research and selection by approximately 49%, resulting in thousands of dollars of estimated savings. Additionally, the system will automate complicated measure search processes, which will increase the quality and consistency of the reported data.
Recommended Citation
Mycroft, Matthew, "An Information System for Health Care Quality Measures" (2016). LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations. 426.
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/426
Oral Presentation
