QIO News Posts

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, hospital readmissions can be reduced by 25 percent when informal caregivers are integrated into the discharge planning process informal  for elderly patients, Caregivers are unpaid...

Today, health systems and professionals are equipped with the knowledge and technology to help patients manage high blood pressure more effectively than ever before. Still, high blood pressure contributes to more than 1,100 deaths in the United States each day and...

Study Relates Characteristics of Initial Prescription Episodes and Likelihood of Long-Term Opioid Use — United States, 2006–2015 Opioid use has become a growing patient safety concern. Recent studies have documented wide variation in opioid prescribing for acute pain...

The National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) is engaging state and community leaders to document and share successful physical activity and chronic disease plans across the nation. This catalog of plans will contribute to the unified effort needed to achieve their...

Lower extremity amputation rates related to diabetes have been gradually increasing each year since 2009, says a new report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Quality Innovation Network National Coordinating Center (QIN NCC). The data,...

By Kayla Hochstetler; Valley Community Health Center (Grand Forks, ND) Life and death used to seem very simple to me. You were either alive, or you weren’t.  A conversation about healthcare directives seemed irrelevant. This changed for me when my 16-year-old brother...

In 2000, 14 children in the U.S. under age 5 died after ingesting opioids. By 2015, that number climbed to 51, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These are some of the youngest victims of the nation’s opioid epidemic. The number of children’s...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has requested the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reevaluate the effectiveness of its attempts to promote patient EHR access and EHR data use. According to the report, most interviewed patients only access their...

Coats and boots will soon be tucked away to make room for shorts and sandals!  The shedding of socks and shoes is the perfect reminder for those diagnosed with diabetes to schedule a foot exam. A foot examination by a primary care provider at least once a year can...