Get to know the AHRQ Quality Indicators
Bringing excellence to healthcare decision making, quality improvement, and research
Quality Indicators (QIs) are standardized, evidence-based measures of health care quality that can be used with readily available hospital inpatient administrative data to measure and track clinical performance and outcomes.
- Highlight potential quality improvement areas
- Track changes over time
- Identify areas for further study
Put the Quality Indicators to work for your organization
News you can use
Indicator Changes
September 22, 2017 - AHRQ announces the retirement of indicators in v7.0: IQ Area Level, IQI Hospital Level, and PSI Area Level Hospital indicators. -New!
May 1, 2017 - New FAQ related to PSI 04. -New!
November 9, 2016 - Patient Safety and Adverse Events Composite "modified version" of PSI 90 for v6.0 ICD-9-CM (FY2016) Fact Sheet Published.
Read MoreSoftware Releases
December 15, 2017 - Release of AHRQ QI Beta software for v7.0.1 SAS QI and WinQI Software.The updated version supports the 2017 Population file and an update to PSI 03. -New!
September 22, 2017 - Release of AHRQ QI Beta software for v7.0 SAS QI and WinQI Software.
August 22, 2017 - Release of updated AHRQ PDI software for SAS QI v6.0.2 and WinQI v6.0.2 ICD-9-CM.
July 18, 2017 - Release of updated AHRQ PSI software for SAS QI v6.0.2 and WinQI v6.0.2 ICD-9-CM.
May 1, 2017 - Release of updated AHRQ PQI software for SAS QI v6.0.1 and WinQI v6.0.2 ICD-9-CM.
Others
March 26, 2018 – Release of 2018 AHRQ MapIT software - AHRQ is pleased to announce the release of the updated MapIT tool to facilitate conversion of set names to ICD-10-CM/PCS codes.
March 2, 2018 - Opportunity for Public Comment on Scientific Acceptability of AHRQ QIs for Quality Improvement efforts. Click here for details
September 22, 2017 - Release of Frequently Asked Questions document related to the v7.0 ICD-10-CM/PCS software is available here.
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Explore The Quality Indicators
Prevention Quality Indicators (PQI)
The PQIs are area-level Indicators that calculate admissions that might have been avoided through access to high-quality outpatient care and are a key tool for community health needs assessments.
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Inpatient Quality Indicators (IQI)
The IQIs include mortality indicators, utilization indicators, and volume indicators for key procedures to help hospitals identify potential problem areas that might need further study, as well as for quality improvement and trending initiatives.
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Patient Safety Indicators (PSI)
The PSIs reflect potentially avoidable safety events that represent opportunities for improvement in the delivery of care.
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Pediatric Quality Indicators (PDI)
The PDIs are specifically tailored to reflect the special characteristics of the pediatric population, including neonates, and can be used to identify potential quality and patient safety issues specific to the pediatric inpatient population.
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AHRQ QIs In Action
Missouri Hospital Association launched a public reporting website that uses a range of AHRQ QIs to support greater statewide transparency on hospital quality and cost. Initially a voluntary effort, the state legislature now mandates that all Missouri hospitals report pricing data for the 100 most common Diagnostic-Related Groups.
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Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) achieved a 28 percent improvement in performance on AHRQ’s Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs), largely as a result of improved collaboration across departments and increased attention to documentation.
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UPMC reduced PSI 15 from a rate of 8.26 per 1,000 patient discharges in FY 2010 to 1.56 per 1,000 patients in FY 2016.
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