Dr. Bryan White Dallas MD expresses how the new Palliative Care Quality Collaborative will work to improve care by providing superior quality measurement, reporting, and more.
The Palliative Care Quality Collaborative (PCQC) was founded in 2019, as a palliative care organization designed to provide superior data, and ultimately better care, to patients. The PCQC is now the leading voice in measuring quality, reporting, benchmarking, and overall palliative care system improvement.
“The new Palliative Care Quality Collaborative is combining the best aspects of several other organizations into one,” Palliative care expert Dr. Bryan White Dallas says. “This means less time is spent comparing the results of separate organizations and more time spent improving the system.”
Dr. Bryan White Dallas explains that the PCQC will streamline the data collection and reporting processes. Patient-level and program-level data will be collected, then it will unified and integrated across registries. The goal, as described by Dr. Bryan White Dallas, is to improve the overall quality of palliative care as well as research and accountability.
“This organization will be just as beneficial for doctors as it is for patients,” Dr. Bryan White Dallas says. “Those of us who are passionate about palliative care will have more insight into what our patients and their caregivers are experiencing and how we can improve that experience.”
The PCQC will offer support, infrastructure, and guidance to clinicians and palliative care practices. Clinicians and practices will be able to compare themselves to their peers and see where they stand in terms of care, service, and more. Dr. Bryan White Dallas explains that the PCQC will also measure its own performance as well.
“The goal of this organization is to offer the most useful data, education, shared experiences, and more,” Dr. Bryan White Dallas says. “The PCQC will track how many practices, clinicians, and more are joining and leaving the organization. That data will be used to see how effectively the PCQC is operating.”
Years ago, Dr. Bryan White Dallas explains, palliative care was seen as different or lesser than other types of medical care. In recent years, palliative care clinicians and practices are being held to the same quality standards as other health services. However, clinicians and practices haven’t had a definitive way to view, compare, and discuss essential data.
“Palliative care practices have been lacking this key organization,” Dr. Bryan White Dallas says. “Finally, we’ll have the data needed to understand where we’re succeeding and where we may be lacking, so we can provide superior care for every single patient.”
The Palliative Care Quality Collaborative was developed in 2019, and an executive director and board of directors have recently been put in place. The organization is expected to go live this summer.
