We asked, you answered: see the results of our survey on the InterQual Acute Criteria interim release

Thank you to all of you who completed our survey on the InterQual Acute Criteria interim release in the last edition of InterQual Insights. Your feedback is important to us, and, as always, we are committed to addressing your feedback, suggestions and concerns. We thought you'd be interested in seeing the results.

How satisfied were you with accessing the updates via electronic download on Download Central (as opposed to receiving the updates on DVDs)?

When would you ideally like to receive the annual InterQual release?

We are considering modeling our InterQual annual release schedule after the ICD-9 release process, in which the ICD-9 updates come out in October but are not effective until January. For example, if our InterQual release date is March 31, the effective date could be June 30 – a period of 90 days in between. For your organization, what is the ideal amount of time before you go live with a new version of InterQual?

How frequently would you like our free educational Ask-the-Expert Webinars to occur?

How would you assess our communication about the interim release? Do you have any success stories? Do you have any concerns? Are there any ways in which we can improve our future releases?

For this question, we've selected a few of your comments and responded to them.

"[You should] clean up the general medical categories. It's like you just bunched everything together and threw up criteria in one place for the book users. Also, [you should] make the index part of the bound copy – for those of us using the book, it is burdensome not to have it attached."

In the 2013 update, we have put considerable effort into streamlining and applying consistency across the general subsets. We recognize that these subsets are very lengthy, so we have pulled out numerous conditions and created separate subsets. We have also applied body system categories to all levels of care to help ensure consistency and simplify navigation. This same uniformity has been applied to the extended-stay subset as well.

Further, for those of you who utilize books, we will be introducing a new binding style. This new binding is large enough to accommodate all of the pages of content, including the index and other ancillary materials.

"We were made aware of the upcoming update, so that was good. Do you trend the questions or frustrations so that a particular issue can be readdressed?"

Yes, we do trend questions and frustrations. We log all questions, comments and enhancement requests in a database, and we review them for consideration. We have the ability to search the database to see whether others have had the same or a similar issue or request. We take feedback from our clients seriously, and your feedback truly helps us improve our content and prioritize the enhancements.

"[We] would like emails with updates. [We] would like to have a better way to communicate concerns with questions regarding the criteria. There seem to be a lot of questions and concerns that we have regarding the criteria. We have a lot of patients who meet [the criteria], but we cannot find the criteria in the book. The criteria are really not as user-friendly as in the past."

You can communicate your concerns to us through several channels. Our support teams are available to answer clinical and technical questions via phone Monday through Friday from 8am to 8pm ET (800.274.8374) and via email (cesupport@mckesson.com). Questions can also be submitted to the support teams through the McKesson Health Solutions (MHS) Customer Hub or can be self-answered on the MHS Customer Hub in the Knowledge Items section.

In addition, we offer Webinars regularly throughout the year. These Webinars provide the opportunity for you to ask questions, and some Webinars are even strictly open forums for questions (the Ask-The-Expert Webinar series). If you cannot attend these sessions, all Webinars are recorded and can be accessed on the MHS Customer Hub.

"I don't like that release is in February, and, by the time we review, develop customization and notify providers, it is mid-year [before we are able to use the new criteria]. [We] would like the criteria late in the year to be effective January 1."

The annual content release is at the end of March/beginning of April each year. Most clients require a few months before they are able to get up and running on the updated content (due to software implementation, customization, training, etc.). We understand that implementation can require time and effort, and, as a result, we are suggesting the following guidelines this year:

• Release date: April 1, 2013
• Effective date: July 1, 2013

Do you want to learn more about the InterQual Acute Criteria? Contact us at 800.782.1334 or MHS@mckesson.com to request more information.

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