Quality Improvement Examples: Organization-Wide, Ongoing Programs. RCGP Quality Improvement Wheel for Primary Care The QI team at the RCGP has put together some very useful resources, particularly their QI guide . Despite previous initiatives, The University of Kansas Health System’s claim denial rate of 25% was higher than best practice (five percent). See if you should add any from this list of 108 healthcare measures and metrics. A quality improvement project (QIP) should be a continuous process of learning, development and assessment, and part of a wider QI programme. 1. Four percent relative reduction in ICU LOS for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock admitted from the ED. By using a comprehensive data-driven approach to facilitate early sepsis identification and standardize the treatment of sepsis, including the addition of evidence-based alerts, Mission Health gained insights into sepsis performance to drive improvements. Examples of previous quality improvement projects. 4% relative reduction in emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. These examples are provided to illustrate the practice improvement process, and that actual efforts devised by physicians and their team may differ based upon Something as simple as more regular and systematic check-ins was able to dramatically reduce infection for Mount Sinai. Three percent increase in the number of discharges occurring on the weekend. The RCGP has created a simple visual representation of quality improvement for primary care to give you an overview of your quality improvement journey. Aimed at addressing fragmentation and gaps in the care pathway for people with dementia, the ‘Golden Ticket’ is an innovative composite model of intervention delivered in primary care and the community. Learn more about our work with primary care practices through the Practice Innovation Network. Improved care coordination and physician engagement have successfully reduced LOS. PDF (Note that these are not absolutes, but general guidelines.). 9% relative difference in mortality for patients that received the evidence-based protocols compared to those who did not—the evidence-based protocols substantially reduce mortality. USP800> Compliance: A Hazardous Drug Safe-Handling Quality Improvement Project for Ambulatory Care Infusion Nurses, Cynthia Huff. Beth Israel was able to reduce readmissions, lengths of stay, incidents of deep vein thrombosis, infections, and complications, as well as patient mortality rates. However, their processes for identifying patients with sepsis and initiation of care was fragmented and varied widely across the system, negatively impacting outcomes. The outcomes were nothing but positive. Posted in Now more than ever, government and insurance reimbursement for patient care are based on health outcomes rather than procedures undertaken. Here are some articles we suggest: Join our growing community of healthcare leaders and stay informed with the latest news and updates from Health Catalyst. As a result of its renewed efforts, process re-design, stakeholder engagement, and improved analytics, The University of Kansas Health System achieved impressive savings in just eight months, including: Healthcare systems working to improve care, reduce expenses, and improve the patient experience face many challenges, including the need to align changes across many levels of an organization. Quality improvement programs are critical because they drive: With lives at stake and specific standards that must be met, hospitals are held more accountable for excellence than your typical organization. QI projects are shorter term and more reactive than programs. Many programs are organization-wide, ongoing, and long-term (as you’ll see in some of the quality improvement examples later in this article). Quality in Primary Care 2008; 16:387–9. Reductions in length of stay have allowed patients to return home earlier and spend more than 1,000 additional nights in their homes. Before making this decision and developing a comprehensive business plan, the health system wanted to better demonstrate the unique impact pharmacists were making on patient outcomes. With the right evidence, analytics, and methods, providers and improvement teams can transform healthcare, improving the quality of care delivered to the patients they serve and the bottom line. Having a strategic management system like ClearPoint in place allows you to track your metrics for patient outcomes and patient care, identify areas that need improvement, and measure QI efforts and the resulting changes. To use this guide effectively, first identify the lab testing improvement “champion” or ... your quality improvement work around laboratory testing processes. Unlocking the Power of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), How to Evaluate Emerging Healthcare Technology With Innovative Analytics, Emergency Department Quality Improvement: Transforming the Delivery of Care, Improving Quality Measures Can Lead to Better Outcomes, I am a Health Catalyst client who needs an account in HC Community. There are many quality improvement activities that take place in general practice, including audit, significant event analysis, analysing prescribing and referral data, and the Quality and Outcomes Framework. improving patient safety or lowering patient mortality). While health systems need to consistently innovate in order to tackle these problems, many quality improvement projects fail to deliver on ROI. QI projects are reactive and more focused on intervention. In order to reduce medication-related adverse events the health system initially considered expanding the involvement of pharmacists performing medication therapy management (MTM) to a group of Medicaid patients covered by a shared-risk contract. After a series of news stories revealed medical errors and poor quality healthcare at Beth Israel, the hospital embarked on a quality improvement program to address the issues. HC Community is only available to Health Catalyst clients and staff with valid accounts. This program is effectively reducing the total cost of care. Millions of clicks have been reduced for clinicians based on deployment of new sepsis screening tools. More information on QI Ready 12% reduction in hospital admissions per 1,000 members and a 10% reduction in emergency department visits per 1,000 members. diabetes care from secondary to primary care, ... commonly encountered by project teams when doing improvement. Broadly speaking, the below are best practices for most QI programs. Required Annual Reports PCC Scope of Service Statement . Click To Tweet. Reduced 60 human touchpoints and opportunity for error. The QI project included creating a board-level commission, establishing a best-practices group, replacing critical leaders, and introducing new clinical guidelines and policies to improve safety, communication, and transparency. Concerned specifically with a hospital's more cyclical activities, such programs aim to continually increase levels of performance (e.g. Reduction of 3.5 FTEs needed to complete the monthly close. Primary Care Quality Improvement Plans ... For example, an ... organizations will be able to prioritize QI projects and develop improvement plans for the year. These are examples from leading healthcare organizations. Below are three successful clinical examples of quality improvement in healthcare covering a wide range of issues facing many health systems today. ... Download our worksheet to guide the development and documentation of your quality improvement team's Aim Statement and PDSA cycles. Emergency Department quality improvement is a journey that takes time and improving ED performance is much more than an emergency department initiative–it must involve the entire system of care. This booklet contains three case studies developed by the Royal College of General Practitioners, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Health $2 million in cost savings, the result of decreased LOS and decreased utilization of supplies and medications. What you SHOULD do once you’ve implemented those quality improvement programs, is find a way to report on them. PDF. The indicators align with JBH’s strategic plan and accreditation requirements. Targeting processes such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder readmissions and medication reconciliation at discharge, these quality initiative examples are very different from SHSC, but still focused on improving care overall. When the pub-lic is alerted to quality failures, such as prevent-able medication errors resulting in patient harm or death, concerns about the quality of health-care arise. Enter: quality improvement projects in healthcare. 1901 N. Moore Street, Suite 502 | Arlington, VA 22209 | 866-568-0590 | [email protected], Copyright © 2020 Ascendant Strategy Management Group LLC d/b/a ClearPoint Strategy |. practice management, quality improve-ment, small primary care practices. Example: AHRQ IMPaCT Grantees' Work to Support Quality Improvement in Primary Care. leads directly to the opportunity to identify, plan and implement improvement projects. Multiple months of data can now be run simultaneously. . Taking these steps led to the following improvements: The second example comes from Memorial Hospital at Gulfport. Through its analytics platform and best-of-breed, ABC models, UPMC is improving quality and safety, reducing costs, and increasing value across service lines. A broad variety of such improvement methods exist. Experts interviewed for this article cited two nursing-related quality improvement projects they were involved with that were simple, but very beneficial. Sepsis order set utilization in the ED has increased by more than 185 percent. To rethink its denials process, it simultaneously increased organizational commitment, refined its improvement task force structure, developed new data capabilities to inform the work, and built collaborative partnerships between clinicians and the finance team. Examples of Quality Improvement Projects in Reducing Medical Errors, Medication Errors, and Adverse Drug Events; Examples of Quality Improvement Projects in Reducing Hospital-Acquired Infections, Injuries, and Other Illnesses; Improving the Treatment of Sepsis; Examples of Quality Improvement Projects in the Continuity of Care for Patients Statistically significant decreases in average medication count. To help with this, there are growing numbers of evidence-based Quality Improvement (QI) methods that can help practitioners to assess and improve the care they provide. In this section, we provide two examples of quality improvement in healthcare that are specifically related to programs. Once these three things are in alignment, health systems can tackle clinical, financial, and operational quality improvement projects like the examples covered here and make incredible strides in the clinical, financial, and operational health of the organization. Research in healthcare involves changing processes and creating better ones. Quality Improvement projects typically mean additional work everyone involved. In an effort to create a high-quality health care system in the United States, many payers, providers, delivery systems, and other organizations are supporting the use of quality improvement (QI) 1initiatives to improve the performance of primary care practices. PDF. Executives receive financial data up to three days sooner. In this section, we provide two examples of quality improvement in healthcare that are specifically related to programs. quality in primary care and insufficient keeping to standards of good care (Seddon et al., 2001; Kirk et al., 2003). Examples of prior quality improvement and research projects: Increasing access to naloxone in Primary Care for patients on chronic opioid therapy; Implementation of integrated Behavioral Health in a rural Primary Care clinic; Reducing inappropriate prescribing of proton pump inhibitors in Primary Care Hospital leaders embraced the challenge of reducing LOS to lower costs and lessen risk for its patients. By consistently integrating information from a readiness assessment, an opportunity analysis, and expert resources, the health system was able to establish a prioritization and implementation approach to outcomes improvement that produced the following results: The health system plans to continue identifying large improvement opportunities aligned with its strategic planning cycle and the priorities identified by clinical and operational leadership. Greenhalgh T, Russell J and Swinglehurst D. Narrative methods in quality improvement research. The purpose of our study is to improve diabetic care in resident clinics through quality improvement (QI) projects, with A1C value as primary outcome and other ADA guidelines as secondary outcomes. They used this capability to effectively drive cost savings and improve clinical outcomes in many of its service lines, including Surgical Services, Women’s Health, Orthopedics, and Cardiovascular. We take your privacy very seriously. Monthly preliminary results are typically reviewed within one business day, affording more time for validation and analysis. We've defined QI programs and provided some current examples of quality improvement in leading healthcare organizations in the US and Canada. It can also improve outcomes by minimizing the risk of hospital-acquired conditions. For its 8th annual QI plan, Sunnybrook Health had four strategic goals that were supported by multiple activities to improve the quality of service. 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