California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation study yields quality measurements

New studies released in the April issue of the Journal of Correctional Health Care (JCHC) (published by SAGE) are helping the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to establish a set of prison health care quality measurements.

The JCHC issue highlights a research project conducted by the RAND Corporation for the CDCR to help it address problems related to access to care and quality of care, and to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weakness of its health care services.

Findings from an environmental scan of quality measures currently used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and several large state correctional systems illustrate the wide variations in both the number and types of performance measures as well as the data systems used to track and report outcomes.

"Clearly, establishing a system of sustainable quality measures is a desired outcome," wrote JCHC editor John R. Miles. "But this is difficult to achieve and maintain in today's changing correctional health care environments."

An appendix to the series lists the final 79 indicators (out of 111 rated and more than a thousand considered) recommended for the CDCR's starter set.

The CDCR, which came under federal receivership in 2005, is committed to the five-year strategic plan issued last summer that sets a goal of bringing 90% of the prison system's health care programs into compliance with National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) standards for health services. These studies help in a critical step to hitting those goals.

The three articles are:

• "The Current State of Quality of Care Measurement in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation" by Stephanie S. Teleki, PhD, Cheryl L. Damberg, PhD, MPH, Rebecca Shaw, MA, Liisa Hiatt, MS, Brie Williams, MD, MS, Terry E. Hill, MD, and Steven M. Asch, MD, MPH
  
• "A Review of Quality Measures Used by State and Federal Prisons" by Cheryl L. Damberg, PhD, MPH, Rebecca Shaw, MA, Stephanie S. Teleki, PhD, Liisa Hiatt, MS, and Steven M. Asch, MD, MPH
  
• "Selecting Performance Indicators for Prison Health Care" by Steven M. Asch, MD, MPH, Cheryl L. Damberg, PhD, MPH, Liisa Hiatt, MS, Stephanie S. Teleki, PhD, Rebecca Shaw, MA, Terry E. Hill, MD, Rhondee Benjamin-Johnson, MD, MSHS, David P. Eisenman, MD, Sonali P. Kulkarni, MD, MPH, Emily Wang, MD, Brie Williams, MD, MS, Ambeshie Yesus, MD, MSHS, and Corita R. Grudzen, MD, MSHS