The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released the 2016 Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) Program Progress Report, which outlines successes as well as the breadth, depth and scope of the QIO program. Great Plains QIN is one of 14 QIN-QIOs that contributed to the program’s success in improving the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries throughout the United States.
Progress Report Highlights based on 2016 data:
- Over 24,300 readmissions to hospitals avoided (with 350 communities engaged on how to reduce readmissions affecting a potential 23 million beneficiaries).
- 27,850+ Medicare beneficiaries completed Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME).
- 3.7 million Medicare beneficiaries impacted through education and outreach about the importance of immunization.
- Over 544,250 pneumonia and flu immunizations administrated by clinicians and healthcare practices participating in the QIO Program.
- 1.2 million beneficiaries at high risk for an Adverse Drug Event (ADE) screened, avoiding medication regime problems and unnecessary pain.
“These numbers emphasize the extraordinary impact QIN-QIOs have on improving the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while reducing overall healthcare costs. Through partnerships and collaboration, QIN-QIOs like Great Plains QIN, are helping provide better care and better health at lower costs for people with Medicare. Our team works with healthcare providers and communities to implement data-driven quality initiatives to improve healthcare in our communities. The newly-released Progress Report is a great means to validate these efforts through data and the highlighting of key accomplishments”, stated Ryan Sailor, Great Plains QIN Network Director.
Great Plains QIN’s effort to improve colorectal cancer cases and screening rates was featured as a Snapshot of Success within the report. Through a Special Innovation Project, the Great Plains QIN team is working to support the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable’s “80% by 2018” initiative. Recruited clinics serving rural and Native American populations receive technical assistance from Great Plains QIN staff to establish baseline screening rates and a systematic process for providing screening recommendations and reminders. To date, 82 percent of clinics throughout the four-state region have signed the “80% by 2018” pledge. Read more about this initiative and similar quality improvement efforts across the country, via the report’s Snapshots of Success.
“The 2016 Progress Report crystalizes the importance of the QIN-QIO network and why the QIO Program is the pre-eminent quality improvement program throughout the federal government. Thousands of practices and healthcare providers participate in the QIO Program, ensuring that we are on the ground working with almost every community across the country,” said Jane Brock, MD, MSPH, president of the American Health Quality Association (AHQA), the leading trade association for QIN-QIOs.
An online and printable PDF version of the QIO Program Progress Report is available online at: http://progressreport.qioprogram.org/.