Finding a common language: Documentation and quality improvement

Health care is rich with specific language that clinicians use to avoid ambiguity. Inconsistent or confusing communication increases the possibility of poor patient care. In this episode, Dr. Geoffrey Rose and Heather Joyner of Atrium Health describe their efforts to reduce ambiguity and standardize terms in the medical record. Working with clinicians to find a common language for documentation has helped Atrium Health make significant strides on quality scores and decrease denials across its large integrated health network in North and South Carolina.

Healthcare in the United States costs too much and it’s not reliably effective, and there are myriad reasons for that, but one of the elements is we have to be better stewards of our resources. In order to do that, we have to have a common language for how we’re applying care.

Geoffrey Rose, MD, Chief, Division of Adult Cardiology