by Keri McDermott | Jan 20, 2023 | Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Nursing Home Quality, Quality Care Coalition
The bivalent booster is the most recent version of the COVID-19 vaccine. It contains both the original vaccine strain [of the virus] and a strain derived from the BA.5 omicron variant, which is currently the most active in the United States, so that we can maximize...
by Keri McDermott | Jan 16, 2023 | Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Nursing Home Quality, Quality Care Coalition
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Improvement (QI) Voices: Improving COVID-19 Outcomes in Nursing Homes Across America is an audio series that gives you a closer look at the projects and the people who are improving health care quality and...
by Kelsey Olson | Jan 10, 2023 | Covid-19, Events, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Hospitals, Immunizations, Medication Safety, Nursing Home Quality, Q Tip Podcast
As COVID-19 hits its three-year mark, we have seen nursing homes take some of the biggest hits of the virus with their patients and their staff. Nursing homes homes are now able to enroll in CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program to obtain single-dose vials of a...
by Kelsey Olson | Dec 2, 2022 | CMS News, Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Hospitals, Immunizations, Nursing Home Quality, Patient Safety, Q Tip Podcast, Quality Care Coalition
The Biden Administration has announced a six-week campaign through the end of the year urging Americans to get their updated COVID-19 vaccine. This campaign will focus on reaching seniors and the communities that were hardest hit by COVID-19 by making it even more...
by Kelsey Olson | Nov 21, 2022 | Chronic Disease Self-Management, Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Health Equity, Hospitals, Immunizations, Nursing Home Quality, Patient Safety, Q Tip Podcast, Quality Care Coalition
Now is the time to encourage people to get their annual flu shots, a universal approach to enhancing community immunity. Influenza is associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Like everyone else, people who are living with heart disease or have had a...
by Kelsey Olson | Nov 21, 2022 | Care Coordination, Chronic Disease Self-Management, CMS News, Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Health Equity, Healthcare-Associated Infections, Home Health, Hospitals, Immunizations, Nursing Home Quality, Opioids, Patient Safety, Public Observances, Quality Care Coalition
According to the CDC, more than 61 million Americans live in rural areas. Rural residents tend to be older and in poorer health than their urban counterparts and rural communities often face challenges with access to care, financial viability and the important link...
by Kelsey Olson | Oct 28, 2022 | Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Immunizations, Nursing Home Quality
While COVID-19 vaccination continues to provide the best protection, COVID-19 therapies are widely available to help treat eligible people who do get sick and are at risk of developing severe disease. Antiviral treatments for individuals at risk for COVID-19 reduces...
by Keri McDermott | Oct 26, 2022 | Care Coordination, Chronic Disease Self-Management, Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Hospitals, Quality Care Coalition
Great Plains QIN had the opportunity to work with Custer Health on a quality improvement project centered around respiratory assessments. The goal was to prevent patients from returning to the emergency department post discharge and to prevent a hospital readmission....
by Kelsey Olson | Oct 25, 2022 | CMS News, Covid-19, Events, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Health Equity, Hospitals, Immunizations, Nursing Home Quality, Patient Safety, Quality Care Coalition
Please join this special virtual event as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) kicks off the #VaxUpAmerica Family Vaccine Tour. This is part of the Vaccination Weeks of Action to encourage Americans to get vaccinated as we head into the season of...
by Keri McDermott | Oct 24, 2022 | Covid-19, Featured, Great Plains QIN, Immunizations, Nursing Home Quality, Patient Safety, Quality Care Coalition
With so much vaccine misinformation, individuals are often left feeling confused and unsure about what to believe. Reliable information lends to confident vaccine decision-making, which ultimately results in fewer illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths. It is...