Impact: Matching consumers with what they want to do leads to sustained engagement.
The Humboldt County Alliance was faced with the challenge of integrating local health care consumers throughout its work to improve the quality of care. Initial attempts of this difficult task were met with hurdles and frustration from consumers and providers alike. Learning from those early efforts, the Humboldt team followed a conceptual framework that matched consumers with activities that aligned with their interests, level of activation, ability to participate and time commitments. This systematic approach has led to successful integration of consumers at multiple points along the continuum – from participation in chronic disease self-management programs to engaging in efforts to redesign the health care system. Along the way, the Humboldt team learned that being candid with consumers about real life constraints helped foster realistic expectations and harmonious working relationships. Read the bright spot>>
Impact: Program improved quality of care and saved $2000 per hospitalization
Faced with the dual problems of decreasing reimbursement rates and an aging population increasingly burdened with chronic diseases, Presbyterian Health Services in Albuquerque, NM was motivated to find an innovative solution that both improved the care they deliver and reduced financial strains. The result was "Hospital at Home," a program that provides an alternative to hospitalization for specific acute illnesses which would otherwise require prolonged inpatient stays. This program included care services, physician visits, and monitoring all within a patient's home. The pilot started in 2009 and has cared for nearly 500 patients. Not only were patients highly satisfied and had better quality outcomes compared to those not in the program, PHS estimated cost savings of $2000 per “hospitalization." Read the bright spot>>
IMPACT: Physician practices working together learned from each other new ways to provide better quality, more efficient care.
Improving patient care requires a culture change in practices that requires patience and support. In South Central Pennsylvania, eight practices formed a Planned Care Collaborative that worked with practice coaches to focus on care for their diabetes and lung patients. With guidance, the practices settled on a set of measures to guide their efforts, and were trained to reduce waste and implemented patient-centered, self-management elements of care. Improvements were made across the board. In the collaborative environment, practices at the end of the program walked away with plans to not only continue their improvement efforts but also return back to share their successes and strategies with each other. Read the bright spot>>
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Driving Improvement
AF4Q communities are pioneers in collecting & publicly reporting data on care provided by local care providers – & attribute major improvements in processes of care to the catalytic power of public reports. Get some insight from Alliances in Oregon, Minnesota, & Wisconsin
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Cost Transparency
Consumers can easily compare prices on just about any good or service in America. The exception: health care. Robert Graham, MD, National Program Director for AF4Q, and Michael Painter, JD, MD, Senior Program Officer at the RWJF, offer their thoughts on the complex landscape of measuring health care cost and determining price in America. See how we define the problem here.
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Where to Start?
Racial health disparities cost the United States an estimated $229 billion between 2003 and 2006. Start using AF4Q Puget Sound's toolkit to begin addressing disparities.
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Revolving Hospital Door
Nearly 20% of patients discharged from the hospital return with problems serious enough to be admitted again. Every community has unique challenges and requires tailored solutions. Alliances in Cleveland, Oregon and Humboldt County work with care coaches, payment reforms, discharge planning and other strategies to reduce readmissions.
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Putting Cost on the Table
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Facing adding cost and efficiency measures to reports of quality performance data, 3 AF4Q pioneers say to start work early, engage communities, begin with easily accessible metrics, and release data to health care professionals first.
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EHRs Improve Care
Researchers in AF4Q Cleveland found improvements in the quality of diabetes care — across insurance and socioeconomic status — in practices that used electronic health records, compared to those that were paper-based. The results were published in the recent issue of NEJM.
There is an ongoing conversation underway on Facebook, Transformation Has Begun, where you can connect with healthcare luminaries and those doing the hard work in the communities. Add your voice now!
Share Your Success.
Health care is a national problem, but the solutions are local. That's why we would like to hear about your Bright Spots, or successes in your community! Share your Bright Spot, and you could win a trip to New Orleans to present your Bright Spot at the May 2012 AF4Q National Meeting. Learn More Here.