“Quality Focused” and “Patient Centered” are two DCI core values that guide every DCI initiative across the continuum of care. Continuous improvement is essential to meeting our mission, and we are committed to maximizing our patients’ well-being while improving outcomes in a safe environment.
Clinical Quality Team
At least twice per year, we formally seek input from patients regarding certain aspects of their care and experience in our clinics. These formal surveys give us valuable information about patient experience with their doctors, dialysis center staff, and the dialysis center itself. The patient voice then guides improvement efforts at the clinic level which are guided by the corporate Patient Experience team and local leadership.
In addition, we have a robust and comprehensive quality management program for in-center dialysis, home therapies and hospital services. The program calculates key performance indicators monthly for each modality. Local clinic multi-disciplinary teams meet monthly to review their data and develop strategies for improving clinical and operational metrics to ensure they consistently meet or exceed defined goals.
At the corporate level, we employ physicians, nurses, biostatisticians, pharmacists and other subject matter experts to develop tools and resources for our local facility teams that enable them to identify areas of opportunity related to quality and safety in DCI clinics. This team of physician leaders, analysts, and researchers collect and analyze data across our clinics to identify trends, potential disparities, and barriers that may exist to achieving the best possible clinical outcomes for our patients. The conclusions drawn from these analyses are shared with DCI physicians and care teams, our partners in the kidney care community, and in some cases government agencies, to positively influence care decisions and clinical and public policy development.