QAPI is the merger of two complementary approaches to quality: Quality Assurance (QA) and Performance Improvement (PI). Both involve seeking and using information, but differ in key ways:
- “QA is a process of meeting quality standards and assuring that care reaches an acceptable level. QA is a reactive, retrospective effort to examine why a facility failed to meet certain standards. QA activities improve quality, but efforts frequently end once the standard is met.
- “PI (also called Quality Improvement - QI) is a pro-active and continuous study of processes with the intent to prevent or decrease the likelihood of problems by identifying areas of opportunity and testing new approaches to fix underlying causes of persistent/systemic problems.
- “QAPI is a data-driven, proactive approach to improving the quality of life, care, and services of patients. The activities of QAPI involve members at all levels of the organization to: identify opportunities for improvement; address gaps in systems or processes; develop and implement an improvement or corrective plan; and continuously monitor the effectiveness of interventions (CMS, 2014).”
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. (2014). Retrieved from: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/QAPI/qapidefinition.html