Healthcare Information Division
AHRQ Quality Indicators for California
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Quality Indicators (QIs) are a set of measures that provide a perspective on hospital quality of care using patient data routinely reported to OSHPD.
The AHRQ QIs measure various aspects of quality:
- Area (County) Level Indicators
- Prevention QIs (PQI) identify adult hospital admissions that evidence suggests could have been avoided, at least in part, through high-quality outpatient care.
- Pediatric QIs (PDI) identify childrens hospital admissions that evidence suggests could have been avoided, at least in part, through high-quality outpatient care.
- Inpatient QIs (IQI) identify possible over-utilization of certain medical/surgical procedures.
- Patient Safety Indicators (PSI) reflect quality of inpatient hospital care focusing on potentially avoidable complications and adverse events resulting from treatment.
- Facility Level Indicators
- Inpatient Mortality QIs (IMI) reflect quality of care inside hospitals by measuring inpatient mortality for selected medical conditions and surgical procedures.
The indicators were developed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and are provided by OSHPD for use by California consumers, healthcare purchasers, and healthcare providers.
OSHPD views the indicators as potentially useful starting points for examining hospital quality but does not regard them as definitive measures of quality. When this information is carefully considered, with its limitations, alongside other reliable healthcare provider information, it may also be helpful to patients and purchasers such as insurance providers when making decisions about healthcare choices. Healthcare providers may also benefit from using this information in quality improvement activities.
The indicators were created using patient data submitted electronically by the hospitals. The data were not validated by OSHPD beyond the routine error-checking that occurs during the data submission process. Additional information about the methods for calculating these indicators, along with detailed technical explanations, is provided by AHRQ at their website. AHRQ also provides valuable guidance regarding the validity of these indicators and important limitations on their use as quality measures.