The influence and added value of a Standardized Assessment and Reporting System for functioning outcomes upon national rehabilitation quality reports. (1st July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Maritz, Roxanne; Ehrmann, Cristina; Prodinger, Birgit; Tennant, Alan; Stucki, Gerold
• Is Part Of: International journal for quality in health care. Volume 32:Number 6(2020)
• Page Start: 379
• Page End: 387
• Publication Date: 2020-07-01
• Subjects: quality of health care -- public reporting of healthcare data -- outcome assessment (health care) -- rehabilitation -- international classification of functioning, disability and health -- psychometrics; Medical care -- Quality control -- Periodicals; 362.1068
• DOI: 10.1093/intqhc/mzaa058
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1353-4505

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To demonstrate the influence and added value of a Standardized Assessment and Reporting System (StARS) upon the reporting of functioning outcomes for national rehabilitation quality reports. A StARS builds upon an ICF-based (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health) and interval-scaled common metric. Design: Comparison of current ordinal-scaled Swiss national rehabilitation outcome reports including an expert-consensus-based transformation scale with StARS-based reports through descriptive statistical methods and content exploration of further development areas of the reports with relevant ICF Core Sets. Setting: Swiss national public rehabilitation outcome quality reports on the clinic level. Participants: A total of 29 Swiss rehabilitation clinics provided their quality report datasets including 18 047 patients. Interventions: Neurological or musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Main outcome measures: Functional Independence Measure™ or Extended Barthel Index. Results: Outcomes reported with a StARS tended to be smaller but more precise than in the current ordinal-scaled reports, indicating an overestimation of achieved outcomes in the latter. The comparison of the common metric's content with ICF Core Sets suggests to include 'energy and drive functions' or 'maintaining a basic body position' to enhance the content of functioning as an indicator. Conclusions: A StARS supports the comparison of outcomes assessed with different measures on the same interval-scaled ICF-based common metric. Careful consideration is needed whether an ordinal-scaled or interval-scaled reporting system is applied as the magnitude and precision of reported outcomes is influenced. The StARS' ICF basis brings an added value by informing further development of functioning as a relevant indicator for national outcome quality reports in rehabilitation.