[The 'ideal therapy process': testing a new approach for assessing process quality in inpatient parent-child facilities]. / Der "ideale Behandlungsprozess": Erprobung eines neuen Ansatzes zur Prüfung der Prozessqualität in Mutter-/Vater-Kind-Einrichtungen.

Instruments for external quality assurance in inpatient parent-child rehabilitation and prevention facilities were developed in 2 projects. For the assessment of process quality, we sought an alternative test to the peer review procedure which also places a stronger emphasis on patient perspectives. The aim was to define an "ideal process" as a standard, to develop quantifiable criteria, and to test a multimethod approach which involves different data levels. On the basis of different sources, the "ideal process" for parent-child rehabilitation and prevention and associated criteria were defined by involving an accompanying expert group during a consensus process. Criteria were assessed on different levels: on the rehabilitation/prevention centre level, a questionnaire of process-relevant structural features was used; on the patient level, a case-related routine documentation filled in by clinic staff and an incident-related patient questionnaire were applied. Data were collected in 37 centres (prevention: 19; rehabilitation: 11; 7 offering both types of programmes). Analysis of patient-related data is based on a sample of 1 513 prevention patients and 286 rehabilitation patients. The resulting "ideal process" consists of the stages "preparation", "arrival", "treatment planning", "treatment", "completion of treatment", and "organisation", each containing specific criteria. Exemplarily, the outcomes for the stages "treatment planning" and "treatment" are presented. There is variability both between features and between clinics. The majority of the patients report that the criteria are fulfilled while there are medium to high levels of fulfillment regarding the routine documentation. The criteria of the questionnaire of process-relevant structural features are mostly fulfilled according to the clinics. Agreement between the 3 data levels can be observed. On the basis of the defined "ideal process", the methods that were tested seem to be appropriate to illustrate process-relevant features from different perspectives. The exemplary measured process quality of the pilot clinics can be judged as predominantly good. Individual deficits of process quality and limitations of the chosen methods are discussed.

[External quality assurance in inpatient medical rehabilitation and prevention centers for mothers, fathers and children: comparative outcome quality analyses across rehabilitation/prevention centers]. / Externe Qualitätssicherung in Einrichtungen der stationären Vorsorge und Rehabilitation für Mütter und Väter einschließlich Mutter-/Vater-Kind-Einrichtungen: Einrichtungsvergleichende Analysen im Bereich Ergebnisqualität.

To date, there are no programs for external quality assurance for inpatient prevention and rehabilitation programs for mothers, fathers and children. Instruments for outcome quality assessment were evaluated with the goal of determining their ability to document differences between prevention/rehabilitation centers in quality-relevant outcome parameters. Referring to the ICF, relevant outcome variables were specified and operationalized using established questionnaires. Data from 45 inpatient prevention and rehabilitation centers for mothers, fathers and children were analyzed using multilevel modeling with risk adjustment. Intra-class correlations were computed to determine in which parameters differences between institutions could be found. The percentage of variability accounted for by patient vs. institution characteristics was computed while statistically controlling for relevant confounders. For prevention centers, substantial variation on the institutional level was found in 9 out of 15 parameters. Almost all institutions did not deviate significantly from the grand mean of the respective parameter. For rehabilitation centers, significant variability was found in 2 out of 10 parameters. The differences between most institutions remained within a range of expectable variability. The results imply that comparative analyses across hospitals are better suited to identify institutions with low quality rather than establish quality-based rankings of institutions.

[External quality assurance in inpatient medical rehabilitation and prevention centers for mothers, fathers and children: development of instruments for assessing structural quality]. / Externe Qualitätssicherung in Mutter-/Vater-Kind-Einrichtungen: Entwicklung von Instrumenten im Bereich Strukturqualität.

AIM OF THE STUDY: As required by German law, inpatient institutions offering prevention and rehabilitation measures for mothers, fathers and children are obliged to implement external quality assurance measures. In 2 pilot projects funded by the German federal association of health insurance funds, external quality assurance procedures for in-hospital prevention and rehabilitation of mothers and fathers were analyzed with the aim of developing a set of instruments for the description of structural characteristics in this area of health care and to evaluate its appropriateness. Concerning structure-related quality, the project included a) designing and evaluating a questionnaire, b) the definition of assessment criteria for subsequent comparative data analyses, and c) the description and documentation of the current state in the field of rehabilitation and prevention for mothers, fathers and children. METHOD: To document structural quality comprehensively, a modular questionnaire was developed and tested in a survey of 115 inpatient prevention and rehabilitation institutions for mothers, fathers and children. Involving an expert panel, preliminary basic and selection criteria were defined in order to assure a conducive assessment with regard to structural attributes. RESULTS: The majority of institutions had provider agreements for both prevention and rehabilitation. Measures for mothers/fathers with children were predominant; only 7 institutions exclusively treated mothers and fathers. Institution sizes varied strongly. Major indications included psychosomatics, dermatology, and pneumology. Overall, structural conditions of the institutions showed a high standard. Potential for development was found with regard to some aspects of the conceptual framework of institutional practice and the implementation of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in diagnostics. In this article, the degrees of fulfillment with relation to the structural dimensions are presented, referring to the analysis of the preliminary basic criteria. CONCLUSIONS: The developed modular questionnaire tapping structural features of inpatient mother/father-child institutions has proven to be a useful instrument to describe the structural quality in future routine practice of quality assurance. In addition, the data can be used for the definition of the final set of criteria.

[Development of methods and instruments for external quality assurance in inpatient parent-child rehabilitation and prevention]. / Entwicklung von Verfahrensweisen und Instrumenten zur externen Qualitätssicherung in Einrichtungen der stationären Vorsorge und Rehabilitation für Mütter und Väter einschließlich Mutter-/Vater-Kind-Einrichtungen.

OBJECTIVE: There so far is no standardized program for external quality assurance in inpatient parent-child prevention and rehabilitation in Germany. Therefore, instruments and methods of external quality assurance were developed and evaluated on behalf of the federal-level health insurance institutions. METHODS: On the level of structure quality, a modular questionnaire for assessing structural features of rehabilitation/prevention centers, basic and allocation criteria as well as a checklist for visitations were developed. Structural data were collected in a nationwide survey of parent-child prevention and rehabilitation centers. Process and outcome quality data were collected in n=38 centers. Process quality was assessed using multiple methods (process-related structural features, case-related routine documentation, and incident-related patient questionnaires). Outcome quality was measured via patient questionnaires (n=1 799 patients). We used a multi-level modelling approach by adjusting relevant confounders on institutional and patient levels. RESULTS: The methods, instruments and analyzing procedures developed for measuring quality on the level of structure, processes and outcomes were adjusted in cooperation with all relevant stakeholders. Results are exemplarily presented for all quality assurance tools. For most of the risk-adjusted outcome parameters, we found no significant differences between institutions. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, a comprehensive, standardized and generally applicable set of methods and instruments for routine use in comparative quality measurement of inpatient parent-child prevention and rehabilitation is available. However, it should be considered that the very heterogeneous field of family-oriented measures can not be covered entirely by an external quality assurance program. Therefore, methods and instruments have to be adapted continuously to the specifics of this area of health care and to new developments.

[Scientific monitoring of the visitation procedure in inpatient rehabilitation centres of the German statutory pension insurance fund--the "Visit II" Project]. / Wissenschaftliche Begleitung der Weiterentwicklung des Visitationsverfahrens für Reha-Kliniken der Deutschen Rentenversicherung Bund--Das Projekt "Visit II".

Visitation procedures are an established method of external quality assurance. They have been conducted for many years in the German statutory pension insurance's medical rehabilitation centres and have continuously been refined and standardized. The overall goal of the visitation procedure implemented by the German statutory pension fund is to ensure compliance with defined quality standards as well as information exchange and counselling of rehabilitation centres. In the context of advancing the visitation procedure in the German statutory pension funds' medical rehabilitation centres, the "Visit II" Project was initiated to evaluate the perspectives and expectations of the various professional groups involved in the visitations and to modify the materials used during visitations (documentation form and manual). Evaluation data from the rehabilitation centres visited in 2008 were gathered using both written surveys (utilization analysis) and telephone-based interviews with administration managers and chief physicians. The utilization analysis procedure was evaluated with regard to its methodological quality. In addition, the pension insurance physicians in charge of patient allocation during socio-medical assessment were surveyed with regard to potential needs for revision of the visitation procedure. Data collection was complemented by expert panels with auditors. Interviews with users as part of the formative evaluation of the visitation procedure showed positive results regarding acceptance and applicability of the visitations as well as of the utilization analysis procedures. Various suggestions were made with regard to modification and revision of the visitation materials, that could be implemented in many cases. Documentation forms were supplemented by current scientifically-based topics in rehabilitation (e. g., vocationally oriented measures), whereas items with minor relevance were skipped. The manual (for somatic indications) was thoroughly revised. The transparent presentation of visitation processes and visitation criteria has proven to be a useful basis for strengthening the cooperation between the statutory pension insurance funds and the rehabilitation centres. Moreover, it is a helpful tool for the systematic and continuous advancement of this complex method by including all parties involved.