The Office of the Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Quality and Patient Safety (QPS) drives quality management, patient safety and analytic support in the Veterans Health Administration.
These components are critical to assuring that Veterans receive the best care possible, at the right time in the right place. The organization supports a comprehensive framework promoting safe, timely, effective, efficient, and equitable patient-centered healthcare services.
QPS integrates multiple VHA program offices which provide:
- Analytics and tools to assess and improve VA health care;
- Quality management tools to improve healthcare delivery performance;
- Best practices, alert and recall information for safe patient care; and
- Assessment tools and training needed to help VHA provide a consistent, high level of care for Veterans.
The QPS organization works with VISNs and VA medical Centers to foster a health care culture of providing consistent state-of-the-art health care delivery to ensure the best care possible for Veterans.
Quality and Patient Safety includes the following three divisions.
API provides customer-centric analytics, tools, and uses critical data to achieve continuous health care quality improvement and sustainability. Using analytics and data mining, API analytics can identify and track trends, find potential problem areas and develop tools that make reporting information easier and more relevant from the facility to the national level. API includes the following programs:
- Center for Strategic and Analytic Reporting
- Clinical Systems Development and Evaluation
- Health Systems Innovation and Planning
- Inpatient Evaluation Center
- Office of Productivity, Efficiency and Staffing
- Performance Measurement
- VHA Support Services Center
NCPS works to ensure patient care is safe, inadvertent patient harm is prevented and safety risks are systematically controlled or eliminated. This is done through a 'systems approach' to problem-solving that focuses on prevention; providing resources and support to VA employees on the front lines of health care; and by working with leadership to help overcome the challenges, uncertainties, and complexities of modern health care delivery. The office's efforts are rooted in an understanding of the critical role leadership, teamwork, and communication play in patient safety, and work to target and eliminate system weaknesses. NCPS includes the following programs:
- Product Effectiveness
- Utilization Management
Quality Management division programs support the ongoing assessment and improvement of healthcare outcomes and healthcare delivery processes. Our program offices help ensure we are hiring the right providers, identifying evidence-based practices, screening for deviations from standards of care, and keeping our facilities in a continuous state of readiness and compliance with industry standards. QM includes the following programs:
- Center for Improvement Coordination
- Clinical Risk Management
- Evidence-Based Practice
- External Accreditation
- VHA's Journey to High Reliability
- Medical and Legal Affairs
- Medical Staff Affairs
- Systems Redesign and Improvement
