The work of Aligning Forces for Quality was recently featured in Evolution, the business and technology magazine from SKF, for its work to improve diabetes treatment. By applying efficiency techniques from the business sector to primary care practices, the quality of medical care for patients was raised to a higher level. Consultants helped practices identify areas ripe for improvement. The first step was to identify and track patients with diabetes. Said Dr. Adelle Kurtz, a York family medicine specialist, “We didn't even know how many of our patients had diabetes." It...
The South Central Pennsylvania alliance and its Patient Partners program were featured on a HEALTHSMART episode on the Chronically Ill. HEALTHSMART is produced by WITF, the central Pennsylvania PBS affiliate.
It is estimated 133 million Americans currently suffer from one chronic disease. Approximately half have multiple chronic diseases. Chronic diseases – long term conditions which can be controlled but not cured – account for 7 of 10 deaths in America. They are considered the leading health concern of our nation encompassing...
One percent of Americans account for 20 percent of the nation’s health care costs; five percent account for 50 percent. Who are these patients? They are known as “super-utilizers”—patients who make frequent trips to the emergency room and have many hospital admissions. Often they are alone and need help determining where to go and how to get healthier.
In six of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) sites, communities are reducing ER visits and hospitalizations for super-utilizers. In her new article, “Caring for...
Cincinnati Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), led by the Health Collaborative, is putting data to work to improve diabetes care among its patients. Starting in 2009, the Health Collaborative brought a group of physicians together to discuss what public reporting measures would be considered valuable to improving patient care. With the prevalence of diabetes in the Cincinnati area higher than the national average, the group chose to focus on those outcomes first. Physicians were provided with a “daily dashboard” of data. Dr. Michael Trombley, family physician at Mercy Health,...
Not only do Americans not always get the right care, sometimes we get too much of it. Not all medical procedures are created equal, and sometimes they can hurt us. ShopSmart, a national magazine from the creators of Consumer Reports, encourage readers to use data, including AF4Q public reports, whenever possible to make empowered decisions.
“Data are scarce, but we were able to get info from three states: Massachusetts, Minnesota, and...
Patients are the heart of any primary care practice. Patients and practices share a mission to improve patient health—a mission in which both parties play indispensable roles. Three AF4Q Alliances (Humboldt County, Maine, and Oregon) have developed a compendium of resources that details the implementation of patient engagement strategy. The toolkit provides case studies and insights into patient recruitment and training, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and developing a...
By embedding the patient’s voice and perspective across the continuum of quality improvement, the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation, the AF4Q initiative leader in Oregon, is transforming the future of ambulatory care. Quality Corp’s Patients and Families as Leaders initiative is changing the health care landscape in Oregon, one relationship at a time. “A successful patient advisory program prepares an organization to understand the importance of consumer engagement,” said Mary Minniti, project director for the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation’s...