The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform – HQI

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform tracks and analyzes data for the following:

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platforms gives you multiple options for benchmarking your hospital’s performance:

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform allows you to filter your reports by:

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform doesn’t require any connection/interface to your EHR system. It uses the following data sources already created and submitted by your hospital:

The Hospital Quality Improvement Platform is available to all California Hospital Association members at no additional charge.

You can reach us at (916) 552-2612 or [email protected] .

The Platform is supported by a friendly and knowledgeable team. We are here to help address any challenges.

The two forms you’ll need at some point are the Business Associate Agreement (BAA) and Participation Agreement (MSA).

Joining the program and using the Platform is easy – please call Dr. Scott Masten at (916) 552-2612 to have him walk you through the process in just a few minutes.

Scott Masten joined HQI in 2016 to help develop the Hospital Quality Improvement Platform data warehouse and advance our data processing, analysis, and reporting capabilities, as well as provide statistical consulting, program evaluation, and education for member hospitals. He has a multidisciplinary background in injury epidemiology (PhD, UNC Chapel Hill) and experimental psychology (MA, CSU Sacramento) and is skilled in a large array of statistical techniques including ARIMA time series analysis, logistic regression, Cox proportional hazards survival analysis, generalized linear regression modeling, factor analysis, ANOVA/MANOVA covariate models, non-parametric techniques, stratified epidemiological analysis, meta-analysis, power analysis, comparisons of complex samples, and psychometric reliability and validity.

HQI is proud to have Dr. Scott Masten, one of California’s leading epidemiologists, at the helm of the Quality Improvement Platform team.

Click here to be taken to the Hospital Quality Improvement Platform.

1. What are the data sources that HQIP uses for their reports?

HQIP primarily uses three data sources.

The first set of sources are the historical discharge data sets made by HCAI for inpatient discharges, emergency department visits, and ambulatory surgery visits. We collectively call this set of data files the AB 2876 files throughout the website.

The second set of sources are the data files that hospitals send to HCAI to create their historical data sets. These data files are called the System of Integrated Electronic Reporting and Auditing (SIERA) files. Hospitals are required to send these files to HCAI periodically throughout the year.

The last set is the data you submit to National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

2. What do you need from me in regards to each data source?

For the AB 2876 files, we ask that you submit a request to HCAI for these files to be given to HQI. We require a custom data set, which necessitates a custom data request and therefore variable justification must be given, which we will provide.

For the SIERA files, we ask that you upload the files through our secure uploading function on our website once HCAI has accepted your file and it passes their requirements. You may upload your files more often than is required by HCAI at your own liking.

For NHSN data, you must simply join our NHSN group.

3. How soon after uploading my SIERA data will it appear in reports?

Our data has a nightly refresh for updating data, tables and charts. We can expect the turnaround time to be 24 hours.

4. How new is the data you are reporting on?

The data we show in our reports is either as new as the latest AB 2876 data or as new as the data in the SIERA files you upload.

5. Will I be able to see other hospital’s data? Will other hospitals see my hospital’s data?

No, you cannot see other hospitals data nor can they see yours. You will be able to select a pre-made comparison group of hospitals and see that groups averages. As well, you can see individual hospital rates in the comparison group, but the hospital name is hidden.

6. Does the data platform require a connection to my hospital’s Electronic Health Records (EHR) system?

No. Discharge files your hospital already creates for HCAI are uploaded manually and easily into the data platform without the need to connect to your EHR.

7. Can my hospital use our own BAA instead of HQI’s?

Yes. Our legal counsel will review and if it’s deemed sufficient, we can just use your hospital’s BAA.

8. Where can I access the data platform?

https://hqipanalytics.org/

9. Is there a limit to the number of users allowed at my hospital?

No. Just send us their names and emails to [email protected] and we’ll make accounts for as many persons as you’d like.

10. Is there any cost for additional users?

No. You can have as many users as you’d like.

11. On the MSA, what do we put in for term and end dates?

It is completely up to you.  If a date is not inserted for an effective date, the effective date becomes the date you sign.  And as far as termination, it is basically at will as you can send in written notice 30 days prior to terminate.  Some users choose one year, some two years and some leave it open ended.  Our suggestion would be to leave it open as you always have the right to terminate.

12. How do I log on to the platform?

If you do not already have an account, send an email to [email protected] with your name, job title and hospital you are with.

If you already have an account, click here to access the logon page. You will need access to your email as the system uses multifactor authentication (MFA) to protect your data. Instructions for logging in and navigating the platform are also available here.

13. I am having issues logging in, what should I do?

If you are having issues logging in, there are a couple things to check before reaching out to tech support.

  • Network Error: If you receive a network error, please contact your hospital’s IT security team and ask them to whitelist our website. https://hqipanalytics.org/
  • Not receiving code: If you are not receiving the 6-digit MFA code, please check the following.
    • Check your spam/junk folder. If it is in there, please mark our system email as a safe sender. It should be coming from our system email ([email protected])
    • If you did not receive a code or email at all, please send us an email at [email protected] so we can troubleshoot.

14. Is the platform Evident Thrive & Centriq Healthland Compatible? Have you been unable to participate in collaboratives in the past because your hospital uses an EHR that requires you to correct data in the HCAI SIERA system? Good news — now you can! The new HCAI upload data portal (SIERA) allows you to download your corrected data, which can then be loaded directly into our HQIP portal so you can access quality analytics based on your corrected discharge data.