NEWS

Quantros, Inc. Becomes a Performance Measurement System (PMS) Vendor with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)

Quantros, Inc., a leader in web-based healthcare quality, data management, and patient safety applications has met the criteria for inclusion in the accreditation process and is now included on the Joint Commission's list of acceptable systems. Quantros, Inc. is committed to meeting future criteria established by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.

Quantros� Core Measurement System enables one time data collection for multiple regulatory and benchmarking initiatives. A single integrated web-based solution allows health care organizations to meet the requirements of both the Joint Commission core measures and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for their national quality indicators. In addition, health care organizations can use the system to satisfy other agency requirements and national initiatives, including those from the American Heart Association, Leapfrog, National Quality Foundation, and state specific reporting requirements.

With the addition of UB-92 and clinical data, the Quantros Core Measurement System reduces data collection burden by integrating clinical and administrative data during abstraction and pre-defining the patient population based upon inclusion criteria. In addition, data validation is built into the abstraction tool, eliminating retrospective data validation prior to submission to the Joint Commission and/or CMS.

Under the 2004 Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals, the Joint Commission requires hospitals to meet several accreditation participation requirements. One such requirement includes the use of core measures from at least one listed performance measurement system meeting current ORYX requirements. The current requirement is that each hospital selects and collects data on three of the five available core measure sets. The available measure sets include AMI (Acute Myocardial Infarction), HF (Heart Failure), PN (Pneumonia), PR (Pregnancy and Related Conditions), and SIP (Surgery Infection Prevention).

The Joint Commission began development of performance measures with the inception of the Agenda for Change in 1987. Eventually these activities were subsumed into what is now called the ORYXå initiative. In September 2004, the Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid announced their commitment to work together to align all current and future hospital measures of quality. The current Hospital Quality Measures are included in the Joint Commission's ORYXå Core Measures and CMS' 7th Scope of Work Quality of Care Measures on heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical infection prevention. Core measures are an important part of efforts by CMS and the Joint Commission to improve the quality of care provided to hospital patients and bring value to stakeholders by focusing on the actual results of care.

About Quantros

Founded in 1996, Quantros serves the healthcare industry with innovative, clinically-based technology solutions and services in the areas of safety and risk management, quality and performance improvement, and accreditation and compliance. Quantros solutions are completely web-based and provide real-time actionable knowledge for quality improvement, indicator monitoring, reporting, and comparative and benchmarking analysis. Quantros products and services are currently used by over 950 healthcare facilities throughout the United States. Quantros is headquartered in Silicon Valley and maintains sales and service personnel throughout the United States. For more information on Quantros, please visit the corporate Website at www.quantros.com