( The American Society of Hematology (ASH...)New tool helps blood specialists improve patient care

In response to a change in requirements to maintain ABIM certification, ASH and ABIM have co-developed the Hematology Practice Improvement Module (PIM), a web-based tool physicians use to complete their practice performance assessment requirement for recertification. Participants in ABIM's Maintenance of Certification program, must complete several self-evaluation steps, including reviewing patient charts and answering questions that determine compliance with pre-established performance measures developed by ASH that are important in the care of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

"The hematologists who use these measures are not passive learners. They are not simply reading about how to improve patient care ?they will be doing it," said Steven Allen, MD, a member of the ASH Committee on Practice, which is developing new parameters for measuring performance on the treatment of several blood disorders and cancers. "Participants will be making real-time changes to the way they care for patients. The importance of this experience is invaluable, not only to the physician, but to the patient as well."

From applying these measures, physicians will then be able to enter the resulting data into ABIM's online module to examine their current processes of care for diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of patients with MDS. The data collected and analyzed provide feedback on specific ways in which their patient care could be improved, and are used as a basis for designing and implementing a practice improvement plan. The Self-Directed PIM makes it easy to enter the data, design the improvement plan, and report to ABIM on the changes made to the practice.

"We commend ASH for their leadership in identifying these performance measur
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Source:American Society of Hematology