Read the Spring Issue of Patient Safety Advance
The Spring issue of Qualis Health's Patient Safety Advance newsletter is now available. Topics include sustaining quality improvement gains, a case study on reducing restraints, alarms and falls, CMS' Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program, Washington State MDRO prevention collaboratives and Qualis Health's Awards of Excellence in Healthcare Quality.
The Commonwealth Fund Releases New SNMHI Video
Safety Net Medical Home Initiative (SNMHI) sponsor The Commonwealth Fund recently released The Safety Net Medical Home Initiative: Transforming Primary Care. In this video, SNMHI administrators and participants discuss their progress.
The Value of Shared Learning: Patient-Centered Medical Home Transformation in the Safety Net
Safety Net Medical Home Initiative Director Kathryn Phillips, MPH, was published in the May edition of Medical Home Bulletin. Kathryn's article, "The Value of Shared Learning: Patient-Centered Medical Home Transformation in the Safety Net," is available via subscription at www.MedicalHomeNews.com.
WIREC Insider May Edition Out Now
The latest edition of the Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center's (WIREC) newsletter, WIREC Insider, is available online. Read about the connections Qualis Health's Medical Director for Health Informatics Dr. Jeff Hummel makes between performance art and healthcare workflow, WIREC's group purchase EHR program and late-breaking EHR and privacy and security in the context of meaningful use.
Value-Based Purchasing Raises the Stakes
In its May 2011 edition, The Society of Hospital Medicine's publication The Hospitalist discusses The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' value-based purchasing (VBP) program. The article "Value-Based Purchasing Raises the Stakes" features participants in Qualis Health's Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center (WIREC) program and calls out Qualis Health's VBP calculator.
Get the Latest Medical Home Resources
Spring has yielded a bumper crop of new resources from the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative, including two implementation guides, a facilitator's guide and a special double issue of the Medical Home Digest.
Implementation Guide - Care Coordination: Reducing Care Fragmentation in Primary Care
Implementation Guide - Organized, Evidence-Based Care: Planning Care for Individual Patients and Whole Populations
Facilitator's Guide - Implementing the Patient-Centered Medical Home Model: A Practice Facilitator's Guide to Visiting Clinical Teams
Medical Home Digest: Quality Improvement Strategy/Enhanced Access
Silver City Health Center Attains NCQA PCMH Recognition
Outlook Associates, a division of Qualis Health, directs the REACH Medical Home Initiative, a bi-state project in the Kansas City metro area designed to guide nine safety net clinics toward patient-centered medical home (PCMH) transformation. Participating clinic Silver City Health Center (SCHS) was recently awarded Level 3 PCMH recognition by National Committee of Quality Assurance (NCQA) for their achievements in practice transformation. SCHC's award marks two distinguished firsts: the first practice to gain NCQA PCMH recognition in the state of Kansas, and the first clinic in the REACH Medical Home Initiative to attain this recognition.
Quality Improvement Report Examines ED Medication Management Workflow
Published online in June, "Medication reconciliation in the emergency department: opportunities for workflow redesign" by Peggy Evans, PhD, CPHIT, Jeff Hummel, MD, MPH, and Helan Lee-Garrard is in the December 2010 edition of the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care. Read the abstract.
Going Home from the Hospital Video Presents Steps to Safer Care Transitions
One in five Medicare patients is readmitted to the hospital within 30 days after discharge. This new video from the Stepping Stones Project of Whatcom County shows patients and caregivers how taking just four steps can help with a safer transition from hospital to home.
Jonathan Sugarman Interviewed for Medical Home News
The January 2011 edition of Medical Home News includes an interview with Qualis Health President and CEO Jonathan Sugarman, MD, MPH. Read the interview.
Jeff Hummel Blogs on Clinic Workflow Design
Qualis Health's Medical Director for Health Informatics, Jeff Hummel, MD, MPH, recently wrote a blog entry for the HITRC portal, a secure website for Regional Extension Centers. In his article about workflow redesign, he shares an analogy between workflows in primary care clinics and set changes in stage shows.
Qualis Health Publishes Report to the Community
Qualis Health's 2009-2010 Report to the Community is now available. Learn more about our efforts to improve healthcare over the past two years.
View our reports to the community for prior years
SNMHI Releases New Implementation Guide
Many important features of the patient-centered medical home model are difficult to implement without state-of-the-art information management tools. The Safety Net Medical Home Initiative's (SNMHI) Quality Improvement Strategy Implementation Guide Part 2: Optimizing the Use of Health Information Technology for Patient-Centered Medical Homes describes how clinics can optimize health information technology to power medical home workflows. Read the guide.
WIREC Insider Talks Workflow Redesign
The March edition of the Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center's (WIREC) quarterly newsletter, WIREC Insider, was recently released. In it, you'll learn about WIREC workflow redesign workshops, test your meaningful use knowledge and more.
New Partnership Aims to Improve Healthcare Quality, Safety and Affordability
On April 12, 2011, The Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs was announced. This program of the Obama Administration brings together leaders of major hospitals, employers, physicians, nurses and patient advocates along with state and federal governments in a shared effort to make hospital care safer, more reliable and less costly. To help achieve these goals, public and private partners will develop models to deliver better care for patients that can be shared widely. Qualis Health has proudly taken the pledge of participation.
Peggy Evans Answers HIMSS Questions About WIREC
Peggy Evans, PhD, CPHIT, Director of the Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center (WIREC) was recently interviewed by Healthcare Information and Management Systems' (HIMSS) Digital Office Task Force Member Tony Khuu.
