Roadmap to Better Care: Tribal Version Updated

Roadmap to Better Care: Tribal Version Updated

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) and Division of Tribal Affairs (DTA) recently shared the newly updated Coverage to Care (C2C) Roadmap to Better Care: Tribal Version, to better address the specific health needs of...
The Confusion with Billing Medicare for Respiratory Vaccines is Real

The Confusion with Billing Medicare for Respiratory Vaccines is Real

Billing issues related to COVID-19 vaccines can arise due to various factors, such as insurance coverage, government reimbursement policies, and administrative errors. The second round of 23-24 updated COVID-19 vaccines are upon us. To try to alleviate issues with...
Updated Community Data Reports [Q4 2023]: Addressing Gaps, Achieving Growth and Quality Improvement

Updated Community Data Reports [Q4 2023]: Addressing Gaps, Achieving Growth and Quality Improvement

The Great Plains QIN team strives to improve healthcare quality and patient outcomes. We work with partners and community coalitions to identify areas for improvement, which include reducing avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions, including those caused by...
Sepsis: STOP And TELL Tool | Knowing the Signs of Sepsis Could Save a Life

Sepsis: STOP And TELL Tool | Knowing the Signs of Sepsis Could Save a Life

In North Dakota and South Dakota, sepsis is the #1 admission and readmission diagnosis. With sepsis, time is of the essence. For every hour of delayed treatment, the risk of death increases by between 4 and 9 percent.¹ Experts say that 80 percent of sepsis deaths...
Partnerships are Key to Reducing Readmissions with Hospital and Nursing Home Collaboration

Partnerships are Key to Reducing Readmissions with Hospital and Nursing Home Collaboration

Reducing readmissions matters to both hospitals and nursing homes. With readmission measures that can impact the bottom line for both, strategic partnerships are paramount. For the FY 2025 Program year, the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Value Based Payment Program...
Opioid Utilization in Hospice and Palliative Care: Compassionate Pain Care Has to be Individualized

Opioid Utilization in Hospice and Palliative Care: Compassionate Pain Care Has to be Individualized

Addressing the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of dying patients includes management of their pain. But how have increasing concerns and policies that target opioid misuse impacted their pain management options? The American Medical Association...
Tobacco Cessation Intervention for Behavioral Health Providers | May 29, 2024

Tobacco Cessation Intervention for Behavioral Health Providers | May 29, 2024

Commercial tobacco use is still the number one cause of preventable death and individuals with behavioral health conditions and substance abuse disorders have significantly higher rates of tobacco use in comparison to the overall population. Tobacco Use Disorder is...
Great Plains QIN LAN Event | Decoding Dialysis: Improving Care Across the Continuum for Patients with Kidney Disease – May 21, 2024

Great Plains QIN LAN Event | Decoding Dialysis: Improving Care Across the Continuum for Patients with Kidney Disease – May 21, 2024

Care of the patient living with end stage renal disease can be intimidating due to the complex interplay of dietary and fluid restrictions, medications, vascular access care, and dialysis treatments, often in the setting of other comorbid medical conditions. It is...
More Evidence on the Need for Antibiotic Stewardship

More Evidence on the Need for Antibiotic Stewardship

An analysis of outpatient antibiotic prescribing in the United States from 2017 through 2021 was recently published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The study shows that rates of inappropriate prescribing returned to baseline levels following a brief drop at the...
High Blood Pressure Education Month: Improving Heart Health Everywhere

High Blood Pressure Education Month: Improving Heart Health Everywhere

Since May is High Blood Pressure Education Month, what better way to teach your patients about their blood pressure than to implement self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring in your practice? The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) for...