QIO News Posts
8 Steps to be a Better Advocate in Patient Care
Becker’s Hospital Review recently reported there are eight steps patients can take on their own that can lead to better care and outcomes. Becker’s culled the steps from Laura Landro’s “The Informed Patient” column for The Wall Street Journal. Steps include: 1. Do...
Data Analytics Help Antibiotic Stewardship Reach New Heights
Recently, FierceHealthcare reported real-time data use by healthcare organizations can help take their antimicrobial stewardship programs to the next level. Inappropriate use of antibiotics cost as much as $34 billion each year in the U.S., according to the Centers...
Happy Holidays from Great Plains QIN
'Tis the season for holiday celebrations, food comas, football and, most importantly, special time with family and friends. Due to these festivities, Great Plains QIN offices will be closed the following dates: Kansas: December 26, December 27 and January 2 Nebraska:...
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
Several Great Plains QIN team members joined nearly 2000 members of the healthcare community at the National CMS Quality Conference in Baltimore last week. Our team was honored to receive an award, on behalf of the National Partnership for Patients Initiative, for...
Gallery Walk Showcases Great Plains QIN Success
The fourth floor hallway at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel was teeming with over 2000 people during the 2016 CMS Quality Conference in Baltimore, MD, last week. Highlighting the conference theme “Aligning for Innovation and Outcomes”, the Gallery Walk stretching from...
2 of 5 Report Receiving Flu Vaccine
CDC has noted low influenza vaccination rates. A selection from CDC's press release, Flu vaccine coverage remains low this year, is reprinted below. As of early November, only about 2 out of 5 people in the United States reported having gotten this season’s flu...
Person and Family Engagement: National and Local Efforts
CMS releases its Person and Family Engagement Strategy A key strategy to achieving better outcomes is to meaningfully engage patients as partners in decisions about their healthcare. CMS recently announced their Person and Family Engagement Strategy, an effort to...
A Systematic Review of Medication Errors Resulting in Hospitalization and Death
Medication errors can result in preventable harm to nursing home residents and can also pose a significant financial burden. The November 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society published a systematic review of the prevalence of medication errors...
AHRQ National Scorecard: Hospital-Acquired Conditions Drop 21 Percent Over Five Years
The National Scorecard on Rates of Hospital-Acquired Conditions shows that about 125,000 fewer patients died and more than $28 billion in healthcare costs was saved from 2010 through 2015 due to a 21 percent drop in hospital-acquired conditions (HACs). In...
Patient Engagement, Education Can Improve Medication Safety
Providers can better detect prescribing mistakes through strong patient engagement and education, ultimately boosting medication safety, new research from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) shows. The report, which focuses...