Research Themes
Healthcare Quality and Safety Research
Developing and implementing healthcare quality and safety metrics is a critical component of our research portfolio.
NATIONALLY RENOWNED LEADERSHIP
Patrick Romano, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FAAP
Patrick Romano, professor of internal medicine and pediatrics, is a healthcare quality expert who leads CHPR's quality and safety research. He has developed and evaluated metrics, tools and resources to measure and publicly report patient safety and quality outcomes for a variety of healthcare settings. Romano has played a major role in the development of well-respected and widely employed methodologies in the field. His significant body of work informs influential organizations such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Joint Commission, the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Battelle’s Partnership for Quality Measurement, The Leapfrog Group, and the World Health Organization Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC).
Improving Patient Safety
Cal Long Term Care Compare
CHPR's Patrick Romano and Debra Bakerjian lead data analysis for the Cal Long Term Care Compare (CLTCC) website, giving California consumers useful information to compare nursing home quality. CLTCC centralizes publicly available information from federal and state agencies about nursing homes in California, offering metrics covering staffing, quality of facilities, fines and other quality information.
Recent news
Research highlights
The CHPR quality team is providing clinical and technical expertise to AHRQ and Mathematica, Inc. about the intent, implementation and interpretation of AHRQ Quality Indicators. This work will be used by public and private payers for contract design, and by healthcare organizations for quality improvement. Current efforts focus on expanding an initial set of Maternal Health Indicators and developing and testing an initial set of Diagnostic Quality Indicators.
Patrick Romano and his CHPR team led the transition of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) Quality Indicators to the ICD-10-CM/PCS diagnosis code sets by mapping more than 228 clinical concepts and 9,000 ICD-9-CM codes. Detailed in the journal HSR, this work has far-reaching implications for national health policy related to reimbursement, public reporting on quality of care, and quality improvement programs for healthcare systems.
In 2023, Patrick Romano accepted an opportunity to serve on the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) Work Group on Timely and Strategic Action to Inform ICD-11 Policy. The committee is also known as the ICD-11 Work Group. Romano is a CHPR affiliate and a UC Davis Health physician and professor.
“The purpose of the Work Group is to gather information from a broad range of sources to bring to NCVHS in its effort to develop advice and recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services regarding adoption of ICD-11 as the official diagnosis code set for all health care claims, transactions, and data in the United States,” Romano said.
Romano added that ICD-11 has been adopted by the World Health Organization in 2022.
CHPR researchers Patrick Romano and Debra Bakerjian are co-editors-in-chief of AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet), internationally regarded as an authoritative web-based resource for evidence on improving patient safety. The editorial team curates 20 to 25 recently-published studies, tools, news articles and upcoming events weekly, and provides expert commentary on cases describing medical errors and patient harms from hospitals across the U.S. (WebM&Ms).
PSNet is currently suspended by order of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In partnership with the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (currently the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI)), teams led by CHPR's Patrick Romano developed and refined the methodology for establishing a state-mandated annual public report card on adverse outcomes and mortality associated with cardiac bypass surgery.
Romano and his team have also advised the California Office of the Patient Advocate, The Leapfrog Group, California Healthcare Compare, and other organizations on the design and content of consumer-facing report cards on healthcare quality and safety.
