Ambulatory Care
_1.jpg)
Better Health Greater Cleveland’s efforts to spread the adoption of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care and electronic health records was the subject of a Plain Dealer editorial. The editorial board opined that cost-saving efforts such as medical homes could not only strongly position Cleveland for federal grants such as the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative but also lure more businesses into the area.
Read the...
The Puget Sound Health Alliance’s monthly Spotlight on Improvement for January 2012 highlights the quality improvement efforts made by the University of Washington in spirometry testing. Spirometry, a common way to measure functioning of the lungs, is used to diagnose conditions ranging from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. The test is administered during a clinical visit and then interpreted by the physician. If health care team members haven’t been properly trained in the use of equipment, it can possibly lead to improperly administered or...
.jpg)
The innovative DIAMOND Program in Minnesota has shown success in caring for patients with depression. Jim Chase, president of MN Community Measurement said, "We knew improving depression care was a very difficult task. We're now starting to see that clinics that implement changes ... have better outcomes." The Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) found that patients enrolled in the DIAMOND were much more likely to report that they were no...
Improving the quality of ambulatory care has been an area of focus for Aligning Forces for Quality since its inception. Ambulatory care is medical care provided on an outpatient basis—therefore, not requiring a person to be admitted to the hospital. It is provided in physicians' offices, clinics, emergency departments, outpatient surgery centers and hospital settings that do not involve a patient staying overnight. By working with a variety of models such as patient-centered medical homes, practice coaching, learning collaboratives and accountable care organizations, the AF4Q Alliances are developing the essential components to create an infrastructure that supports sustainable improvements in ambulatory quality.
Robert Graham, the national program director of Aligning Forces for Quality, was a featured presenter at an Alliance for Health Reform briefing on Capitol Hill, along with AF4Q Program Director Jim Chase from Minnesota and Anne Weiss from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The webcast and accompanying PowerPoint presentations are now available online.