Telligen QI Connect™ Shares Strategies to Support Vaccine Champions
The Telligen QI Connect™ team, as a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO), partners with nursing homes in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa and Oklahoma to support their quality improvement efforts. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Telligen has equipped vaccine champions within nursing homes with tools and education so…
Improving COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Uptake
Q&A with Donna Thorson, Shannon Finegood and Linda Griskell at Comagine Health COVID-19 vaccine access and uptake has been identified as a challenge for nursing homes. What was your vision and plan to improve vaccine access and uptake? At Comagine Health, we are aiming to increase access to, uptake of and confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine, including the booster, among long-term…
Collaboration Reduces Hospital Readmissions, Improves Patient Care and Outcomes
The Health Quality Innovation Network team, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor, partners with health care providers in Kansas, Missouri, South Carolina and Virginia to support their quality improvement efforts. This includes spreading best practices to help other facilities achieve similar successes. One such provider, SoutheastHEALTH in…
Improving Vaccine Uptake Among Nursing Home Staff Through Motivational Interviewing Techniques
Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), the Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Arizona and California, started working on Motivational Interviewing in the spring of 2021 as a tool to help nursing homes improve uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. Slow vaccine uptake at nursing homes has been identified as a key challenge. Given that, how did you choose…
Behind the Scenes of Project Firstline
Q&A with Cheri Fast, RN, BSN, CIC, Project Lead Infection prevention and control is fundamental to safer care, improved health outcomes and a reduction in costs. Great Plains Quality Innovation Network (Great Plains QIN) and Project Firstline Leads in South Dakota are working together to help prevent, mitigate and respond to infections through education, resource sharing and technical…
Nursing Home Staff Retention Pilot Program Soars
With health care provider partners in Kansas, Missouri, South Carolina and Virginia, the Health Quality Innovation Network, has heard many stories of nursing homes struggling with staff retention. However, they also learned of a story of hope about one nursing home's pilot program increasing its staff retention rate to 100 percent in four months. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a new set of…
Behind the Scenes of the Compass HQIC Strategy
A Q&A with Charisse Coulombe, HQIC Program Manager and Melissa Perry, HQIC Project Coordinator What is the Iowa Health Collaborative what is its history with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)? The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative (IHC) is a provider-led, patient-focused nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to sustainable health care transformation. Created in 2004…
Behind the Scenes of the Nursing Home Command Center
Q&A with Craig Bagley, CMS Nursing Home Command Center Lead Why was the CMS Nursing Home Command Center developed? What are its goals? The Nursing Home Command Center was formed in November 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to bring CMS data analysts, the Independent Evaluation Contractor (IEC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)…
Quality and Health Equity During a Pandemic
A Q&A with Comagine Health What has been the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the American Indian Alaska Native (AIAN) community? The AIAN communities have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data the AIAN population infection rates are over 3.5 times higher than non-Hispanic whites…