Identification and prioritization of quality indicators in clinical genetics: an international survey.

The range and demand for clinical genetic services will continue to grow, and now is an ideal time to assess current service quality. Based on the previous work of quality professional organizations such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) which is now known as The Joint Commission (TJC), an independent group of genetic and healthcare quality professionals (InheritQual) drafted and defined a list of potential quality indicators for clinical genetics. Perspectives on the appropriateness and the practicality of each indicator were surveyed and analyzed. The Quality Special Interest Group of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) chartered the survey results. After measuring the degree of consensus, an expert panel was selected to review the quality indicators based on practicality and applicability. This expert panel comprised of members of the ACMG Quality Sig workgroup met for final consensus and developed a methodology to pilot these indicators. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.