Recent blogpost...
(from blog 2/17/2012)
A Quick Overview of CAAR-the voluntary data validation program proposed by Joint Commission
In an effort to increase data reliability, The Joint Commission has implemented a voluntary program of validation for core measures titled Category Assignment Agreement Rate (CAAR). This program is a one-to-one comparison of the original abstraction (and abstractor) and a re-abstraction. While currently voluntary, expectations are the program will eventually become mandatory. Current objectives include a re-abstraction of 12 cases per quarter sampled from abstractions previously submitted to TJC. There should be at least one of each time case that was previously submitted including Inpatient, Outpatient and Behavioral Health. The objective is to determine consistency in abstraction and to highlight knowledge deficiencies between abstractors, providing an opportunity for enhanced learning…
The Joint Commission has mandated all TJC-approved PMS software vendors develop and implement a module within their applications in order to process and provide comparison capabilities for re-abstraction efforts. The software vendors are required to report to TJC which hospitals are participating at this point, but are not asking for validation percentages at this time. Information is not publicly reported, but again, there is an expectation it will.
Software application protocols may vary, but re-abstraction reports reflecting mis-matches should be available in the CAAR module. Information from the re-abstractions will not be reflected in reports from the original submissions.
Hospitals are encouraged to contact their specific PMS vendor. Go to www.daspecialists.com for information on how to succeed with CAAR.
DASpecialists, LLC
