About Quality Counts Maine

Maine Quality Counts

Mission

Quality Counts is transforming health and healthcare in Maine by leading, collaborating, and aligning improvement efforts.

Vision

Through the active engagement and alignment of people, communities, and healthcare partners, every person in Maine will enjoy the best of health and have access to patient centered care that is uniformly high quality, equitable, and efficient.

Goals:

• To promote consistent delivery of high quality care
• To improve access to healthcare
• To contain healthcare costs

What We Do:

Improve Quality - We develop community-wide capabilities to improve and sustain patient-centered, equitable and high-quality health care in Maine - the kind of care both patients and doctors want.

Promote Public Reporting of Performance - We encourage providers to publicly report their performance on national accepted, standardized health care measures, including patient experience.

Engage Consumers - We encourage people to take an active role in their own health care, from understanding their conditions and the available treatments, to seeking out and making decisions based on comparative information about local health care providers, to understanding improvements in care.

Share Information - We foster opportunities to discuss and learn about better managing chronic illness, creating stronger relationships between doctors and patients, and living healthier lifestyles.


Key Functions:

1. Serve as statewide organizational champion, and providing visible collective leadership for improving chronic illness prevention and care in Maine.
2. Promote the spread of best practices for planned care (formerly chronic illness care) through an annual statewide Quality Counts conference, or "Best Practices College".
3. Promote the spread of best practices through a statewide chronic illness prevention and planned care "learning network".

History:

The Beginning - Discussing the Need for Improved Systems of Care
Healthcare providers, employers, payers, and policymakers came together in the fall of 2003 to promote the need for improved systems of care for chronic illness.  This group planned and conducted a series of Quality Counts (QC) conferences in December 2003, April 2004, and December 2005. 

Outcomes from Early Quality Counts Conferences
These statewide conferences introduced attendees to the Chronic Care Model and provided specific examples of Maine providers using population-based approaches and information systems to improve healthcare information technology, also called "HIT".  The effort also promoted collaboration between providers, employers, and payers to speed broader adoption of the Planned (Chronic) Care Model in Maine and support its sustainability. 

QC Formally Begins
In April 2006, the original incorporators endorsed the creation of  Maine Quality Counts QC) as an independent not-for-profit corporation to be supported by membership contributions, as well as available contracts and grants.


Maine Quality Counts Today:

Leadership, Collaboration, and Alignment

QC's current workforce consists of two employees and several contracted staff, and growth is continuing.   QC is involved in many projects to help improve quality throughout the state.   Many projects are underway to improve both ambulatory care and hospital care.   QC is currently collaborating with the Maine Health Management Coalition and the Maine Quality Forum on both  the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative, and the Maine Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot.

Our Future:
QC regularly re-visits its mission, vision, and strategic priorities in light of early successes and rapid growth, to ensure that QC is moving along a course that maximizes its ability to "measurably improve the health and health care of Maine." 

Funding:
The activities of Maine Quality Counts are supported by contributions from Members, Quality Partners of Support, sponsorship donations, and an increasing levels of grant funding.