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Malnutrition in hospitalized patients has long been recognized as a contributor to poor patient outcomes; malnutrition often leads to higher costs of care. Thus, it is important to improve the identification of patients who are at risk for malnutrition or already malnourished and to initiate treatment to optimize outcomes. The Malnutrition Quality Improvement Initiative (MQii) is based on a dual-pronged approach consisting of a set of four electronic clinical quality measures and a Quality Improvement Toolkit that support delivery of high-quality malnutrition care by clinicians including nurses, registered dietitian nutritionists, and physicians. A large pilot hospital validated the four malnutrition electronic clinical quality measures (screening for nutrition risk, assessment, care plan, diagnosis), demonstrating their value in support of continuous quality improvement for hospital-based malnutrition care with the ultimate goal of better patient outcomes while reducing health care costs.

Ten years of strategic direction and resource development by the American Dietetic Association (ADA) has positioned the profession for nutrition care integration into health information technology (HIT), specifically electronic health records (EHRs) and personal health records (PHRs). New legislation included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (1) creates an unprecedented opportunity to bring this work in to the spotlight, improve health care, and promote evidence-based decision-making for nutrition care using HIT. Registered dietitians (RDs) and dietetic technicians, registered (DTRs) are positioned to become leaders in this area.

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