what is qopi?

Quality Oncology Practice Initiative

By Jennifer Peterson, MS, RHIA, CTR, Mid-Illinois Hematology & Oncology Associates
ur health care world is filled with acronyms which can confuse even the best of us. However, there is now a new one to learn: QOPI, which stands for Quality Oncology Practice Initiative. QOPI was developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology to promote excellence in cancer care (QOPI web page, Program Details). There are two parts to the QOPI program: participation and certification. Practices that participate in QOPI submit data and use the data to improve the quality of care they provide. Practices that are QOPI-certified have met certain scoring criteria and completed the certification process. Once a practice is certified by QOPI they can state they are a QOPI-certified practice, and have met quality and safety standards. Quality improvement in health care is an ongoing goal for all medical facilities. Hospitals, outpatient facilities, and physicians offices all

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want to ensure they are providing their patients the best quality care. There are many methods of measuring and ensuring quality; one of the most common is comparing facility data to local, state, or national data. Another method is using standards set by an authoritative body, and comparing actual practice to these standards. QOPI was started in 2006 with the goal of providing standards of quality of care for medical oncology (cancer) physician practices. Practices who participate in QOPI collect data for specific quality measures and submit this de-identified data to QOPI. They are then given their results as well as comparative data from the nation, state, or other groups, so the practices can see where they stand in the quality of care they provide and make appropriate improvements. Currently, there are 816 practices that participate in the program. The quality measures are divided into site-specific modules, which include: breast cancer, colorectal cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, lung cancer, and gynecological cancers. In addition, there are quality measures for symptom/ toxicity management, care at end of life, and a core module, which covers basic cancer care for all patients. QOPI Certification, which was started in 2010, promotes the highest quality cancer care as defined by the clinician experts (QOPI web page). Practices that seek QOPI Certification must participate in a data collection round and include data for all required quality measures. The data submitted must meet certain scoring criteria. In addition, these practices must comply with certain American Society of Clinical Oncology/Oncology Nursing Society safety standards. These standards relate to safety in the preparation and administration of chemotherapy. In addition, practices seeking certification must undergo a review of randomly selected records and safety standards as well as an on-site review. Once a practice has undergone all of these steps and met the required criteria, the QOPI Certification Program may grant them QOPI Certification. This certification is for a three year time period, and then the practice must undergo re-certification. To maintain certification, a practice must submit data to QOPI at least annually. Currently, there are 190 QOPIcertified practices. What does this mean to you? A QOPI-certified practice has met specific standards in quality and safety set by the QOPI Certification Program of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. QOPI-certified practices can use the QOPI-certified logo so you may see this on materials from these practices. QOPI Certification is voluntary; there are no requirements for a medical oncology practice to be QOPI-certified, however, QOPI Certification can tell you that the practice is committed to delivering the highest quality of cancer care to you. For more information, you may contact Mid-Illinois Hematology & Oncology Associates, Ltd. 309-452-9701. They are a QOPI-certified practice located inside the Community Cancer Center at 407 E. Vernon Avenue in Normal. You may also visit the QOPI website qopi.asco.org.