QC Learning Community (QCLC)
The Quality Counts Learning Community is an effort to bring together existing networks of physician practices, such as the Maine Practice Improvement Network (MPIN), Physician Hospital Organizations (PHOs), and multi-site physician practices with other practice networks and individual physician practices to promote the spread of best practices throughout the state. The QC Learning Community is planned as a major alignment activity of the Aligning Forces for Quality initiative, and will assess current QI capacity for physician practices across the state, identify gaps, and fill these gaps by offering opportunities to connect and facilitate collaborative learning. The QC Learning Community will offer practices and practice networks opportunities to learn from each other and from national experts through a regular e-newsletter; a web-based repository of QI tools hosted on the QC website; periodic regional improvement meetings for providers and practice staff; and opportunities for direct practice-to-practice networking to observe the implementation of best practices.
October Brown Bag Forum held on October 25thThis month's Brown Bag Forum speaker was William Kassler, MD, MPH, the Chief Medical Officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for the New England Region and President of the New Hampshire Medical Society.
Dr. Kassler spoke about the Partnership for Patients, a public-private partnership that offers support to physicians, nurses and other clinicians working in and out of hospitals to make patient care safer and to support effective transitions of patients from hospitals to other settings. The Partnership is an important part of the Center's work to improve the quality of care available to CMS beneficiaries.
Slides are available for download: QCLC E-newsletter Spring 2011-Dueling eRxDueling eRx Incentive Programs--and a Ticking Clock! June 30, 2011, is a crucial deadline to meet the eRx requirements and avoid penalties for eligible Medicare Part B providers. The CMS-administered Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program and the Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program provide incentive payments to eligible Medicare providers who adopt and use health information technology, and--importantly--start to introduce penalties for those who don't. Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) is a well-established quality strategy shown to increase patient safety and lower costs by reducing adverse drug interactions and encouraging prescribing of generic drugs. E-prescribing requires a healthcare provider to use a computer device, sometimes using access to electronic formularies, insurance benefits, and the medication history of the patient. E-prescribing can be implemented as a stand-alone process, or hooked into the provider’s EHR. Read more...
New National Scorecard: Room for ImprovementThe National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011, updates a series of comprehensive assessments of U.S. population health and health care quality, access, efficiency, and equity. It finds substantial improvement on quality-of-care indicators that have been the focus of public reporting and collaborative initiatives. However, U.S. health system performance continues to fall far short of what is attainable, especially given the enormity of public and private resources devoted nationally to health. Read more... http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2011/Oct/Why-Not-the-Best-2011.aspx |
HIT 'Ask the Expert' Roundtable Webinar - October 13thPresentation Slides for today's webinar are available for download: HIT Roundtable Webinar - 10-13-11 - Meaningful Use Presentation Slides QCLC E-newsletter Spring 2011-ER VisitsWorking to Reduce Avoidable Emergency Room Visits Among the approximately 540 primary care practices in Maine, sit 26 practices (22 adult and four pediatric practices) which, as part of the Maine Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot, are working collaboratively to both improve the quality of care for patients and to decrease avoidable health care costs. QCLC E-newsletter Spring 2011-EHR UseReal Help Is Now Available: Cutting the Cost of EHR Use The long term benefits of HIT to quality care are well known, yet short term challenges may feel insurmountable. Start-up costs, staff time and training, process changes, work-flow redesigns, increased data management--all require intense resources--and with the competing pressures on primary care practices, it may feel overwhelming! But now may be the best time to implement or upgrade an electronic health record (EHR) using tangible resources available from the Maine Regional Extension Center (MEREC) through federal incentives to help providers meet Meaningful Use (MU) requirements. In addition to contracted cost reductions for implementation, the MEREC is offering free connection to HealthInfoNet and eight hours of quality focused services in a partnership with Quality Counts. The MEREC recently contracted with four vendors, chosen through a rigorous evaluation by an independent advisory group, to help Maine primary care providers take full advantage of EHRs and federal MU incentive payments. The supported vendors were chosen based on the appropriateness of their products, services, and pricing structures to meet the needs of Maine's primary care providers. These vendors include EHR providers athenahealth, Ingenix, and e-MDs, and implementation services provider Concordant. Each supported vendor is offering reduced fees to eligible providers who enroll through the MEREC. In addition to discounted EHR products and services from one of the MEREC's supported vendors, health care providers enrolled with the MEREC receive eight hours of core quality coaching support from Quality Counts, connection to Maine’s statewide health information exchange, and access to low interest loans through the Maine Health Access Foundation and the Finance Authority of Maine. To enroll in the MEREC program or learn more about eligibility and services, contact Gemma Cannon at 541-9259, ext 214 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or visit http://www.hinfonet.org/. |