Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Certification Program: measuring implementation of chemotherapy administration safety standards in the outpatient oncology setting.

The Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) Certification Program (QCP) evaluates individual outpatient oncology practice performance in areas that affect patient care and safety and builds on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) QOPI by assessing the compliance of a practice with certification standards based on the ASCO/Oncology Nursing Society standards for safe chemotherapy administration. To become certified, a practice must attain a benchmark quality score on certification measures in QOPI and attest that it complies with 17 QCP standards. Structured on-site reviews, initially performed in randomly selected practices, became mandatory beginning in September 2011. Of 111 practices that have undergone on-site review, only two were fully concordant with all of the standards (median, 11; range, seven to 17). Most practices were subsequently able to modify practice to become QOPI certified. The QCP addresses the call from the Institute of Medicine to close the quality gap by aligning evidence-based guidelines and consensus-driven standards with requirements for oncology practices to develop and maintain structural safety components, such as policies and procedures that ensure practice performance. On-site practice evaluation is a high-impact component of the program.