• Press Release

Mount Sinai Researchers Receive $8 Million Grant to Develop National Measures Evaluating Quality of Pediatric Health Care

Award goes to enhancing methods of evaluating the quality of care given to pediatric patients in the U.S.

  • New York, NY
  • (March 21, 2011)

Mount Sinai researchers have received a four-year federal grant for $8 million to develop and enhance methods of evaluating the quality of care given to pediatric patients in the United States. Lawrence C. Kleinman, MD, MPH, Vice Chair for Research and Education in the Department of Health Evidence & Policy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, received the award as principal investigator of a 66-member research team that spans ten partner organizations. 

The grant was recently announced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and is part of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009, which requires the establishment of a Pediatric Quality Measures Program to improve core sets of pediatric care measures and provide for development of new measures as needed. The newly developed Mount Sinai Collaboration for Advancing Pediatric Quality Measures (CAPQuaM) was named one of seven CHIPRA Centers of Excellence by AHRQ, in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

"Current approaches to measuring pediatric care are not sufficient. As a rule they are difficult to make comparable for different populations of children or across states, providers, and health care plans. Such lack of measurement lowers the overall quality of care received by children in the United States," said Dr. Kleinman. "Standardized measurements are essential for ensuring high quality and equal care health care and this grant is an exciting step in that direction." 

The Centers of Excellence plan to produce at least 15 new children’s health care quality measures and enhance at least 56 existing measures by 2015. Priorities include perinatal care, inpatient care, mental/behavioral health, and coordination of care. 

"CAPQuaM will look at the benefits and effectiveness of existing treatments, including their value, drawbacks, or potential risk," said Dr. Kleinman. "Additionally, our process will be transparent and collaborative as it is important that all voices – including clinical, research and patient voices – are taken into account." 

Partners include American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Joint Commission, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative of Oregon Health & Science University, Northwestern University, the Institute for Patient and Family Centered Care, and the New York State Department of Public Health. The project will work with New York's Medicaid program and the New York chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and it will have representatives from the Partnership for Patient Safety, Consumers Advancing Patient Safety, and the Consumers Union to ensure involvement of families and patients. 

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center 

The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of few medical schools embedded in a hospital in the United States. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 15 institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institute of Health funding and by U.S. News & World Report. The school received the 2009 Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service from the Association of American Medical Colleges. 

The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation's oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital among the nation's best hospitals based on reputation, patient safety, and other patient-care factors. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 530,000 outpatient visits took place. 

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org.
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About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, employing 48,000 people across its hospitals and more than 400 outpatient practices, as well as more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2024-2025.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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