"Measuring Quality: Balancing Volume and Cost of Metric Reporting"

A study conducted at Johns Hopkins Hospital found that preparing and reporting data for 162 unique quality metrics required an estimated 108,478 person-hours, costing an estimated $5,038,218.28 in personnel costs plus an additional $602,730.66 in vendor fees. Claims-based and chart-abstracted metrics used the most resources per metric, while electronic metrics consumed far less. Policy makers should consider reducing the number of metrics and shifting to electronic metrics, when possible, to optimize resources spent in the overall pursuit of higher quality.