Using the American College of Rheumatology’s RISE registry, we examined performance on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) quality measures and assessed the association between practice characteristics and changes in performance over time among participating practices.
We analyzed data from practices enrolled in RISE between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017. Eight quality measures in RA disease management, cardiovascular risk reduction, and patient safety were examined. Variability in performance was evaluated at the practice level. Multivariate linear models were used to predict a change in measure performance by year and determine the effect of practice characteristics on performance change over time.
Data from 59,986 patients from 54 practices were examined. The mean age was 62±14 years, 77% were female, 69% were Caucasian, and most patients were seen in a single‐specialty group practice (46%). Average performance on measures related to RA treatments was consistently high (>90%) across the study period. Measures related to RA functional status and disease activity assessment had tremendous improvements over time (8.4% and 13.0% increase per year, respectively; p<0.001). Single‐specialty group practices had the fastest rates of improvement over time across all measures.
Among practices participating in RISE between 2015 to 2017, performance on most RA quality measures improved. Single specialty group practices saw the fastest rates of improvement over time. Identifying workflow patterns leading to dramatic improvements in quality of care will help guide process redesign to address gaps in priority areas, such as TB screening and blood pressure control.
Ref: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acr.24444
