HAC Quality Assurance & Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which organization publishes the HEDIS measures used to evaluate health plan performance?
- CMS
- NCQA (Correct answer)
- The Joint Commission
- AHRQ
Correct answer: NCQA
NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance) develops and maintains HEDIS measures used to compare health plan quality.
Question 2: In a healthcare quality improvement project, a 'fishbone diagram' is primarily used to:
- Track defect rates over time
- Identify root causes of a problem (Correct answer)
- Display process flow steps
- Compare performance across departments
Correct answer: Identify root causes of a problem
A fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram is a cause-and-effect tool that identifies potential root causes of a quality problem.
Question 3: The Donabedian model evaluates healthcare quality using which three dimensions?
- Input, Process, Output
- Structure, Process, Outcome (Correct answer)
- Access, Cost, Quality
- Prevention, Treatment, Recovery
Correct answer: Structure, Process, Outcome
Donabedian's framework assesses quality through structure (resources), process (care delivery), and outcomes (patient results).
Question 4: A control chart's 'upper control limit' (UCL) is typically set at how many standard deviations above the mean?
- 1
- 2
- 3 (Correct answer)
- 4
Correct answer: 3
UCL and LCL in a control chart are set at three standard deviations from the mean to distinguish common from special cause variation.
Question 5: Which quality standard framework is specifically designed for patient safety and medical device risk management?
- ISO 9001
- ISO 13485 (Correct answer)
- CMMI
- Six Sigma
Correct answer: ISO 13485
ISO 13485 is the quality management standard specifically for medical devices and related services.
Question 6: Under CMS's Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program, hospital payments are adjusted based on:
- Total admissions volume
- Patient satisfaction and clinical quality scores (Correct answer)
- Geographic location only
- Number of employed physicians
Correct answer: Patient satisfaction and clinical quality scores
VBP ties a portion of Medicare payments to hospitals' performance on quality measures including clinical care and patient experience.
Question 7: A healthcare analyst notices a sudden spike in medication errors after a new EHR module was deployed. This type of variation is called:
- Common cause variation
- Special cause variation (Correct answer)
- Seasonal variation
- Random variation
Correct answer: Special cause variation
Special cause variation arises from identifiable, non-random factors — in this case, the EHR deployment — and requires investigation.
HAC Quality Assurance & Standards 2
Which organization publishes the HEDIS measures used to evaluate health plan performance?