Incorporating OASIS into the Visiting Nurses Association.

Beginning in 1994, the Visiting Nurses Association, Western Pennsylvania, began to investigate incorporating an outcome measurement system within its organization for the purposes of marketing quality results, benchmarking achievements, and defining quality of care for both internal and external review groups. In the fall of 1995, this agency was accepted into the Outcome Based Quality Improvement (OBQI) Demonstration Project, also known as the Medicare Quality Assurance Project, which the Health Care Financing Administration has funded for the purpose of measuring clinical and utilization outcomes in the home care arena. This article reviews the processes the agency used to develop and incorporate the entire OBQI process into its systems, including the incorporation of the Outcome Assessment Information Set (OASIS). The OASIS is a set of outcome measurement questions developed by Dr. Peter Shaughnessy at the Center for Health Policy Research in Denver. The process also includes training of staff and development of forms, point-of-care software with a vendor, and plans of action for improving outcomes that have been quantified through OBQI efforts.