Rural, frontier, tribal, and island communities face structural barriers to achieving equitable health outcomes, including practitioner shortages, hospital closures, and long travel distances to access care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is committed to working with rural communities to address these barriers and build on existing advancements to achieve optimal outcomes for all rural Americans.

Quality Co-Op is a suite of new, members-only features on www.QIOProgram.org that launched on January 31, 2022 to encourage collaboration and coordination among NQIIC teams.

As hospitals prepare for more COVID-19 surges, it is important to have infection control practices in place that align with CMS goals for COVID-19 prevention and control. In this webinar hosted by Meg Nugent, Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor (HQIC) program manager at Telligen, you’ll learn how your care team can lock in infection control processes that ensure safe, quality care that meets regulatory compliance expectations during COVID-19 surges by:

It is not a matter of if, but when. Use of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC’s) pandemic preparedness checklist can help position your facility to be prepared to identify and treat cases of COVID-19, including a potential surge in cases, and how to prevent the spread of disease in your facility. In this webinar hosted by Brianna Gass, you’ll learn:

The theory behind personal protective equipment (PPE) is simple, but working in a fast-paced, overburdened environment can cause lapses in protocol and best practices. Proper wear/​disposal and a reliable observer or buddy can minimize the chance of infection and possible outbreaks. In this webinar hosted by Brian Gardiner, BA, BSN, RN, you’ll learn:

Everyone in health care knows how to wash their hands. So why is it so hard to practice thoroughly and consistently? In this webinar hosted by Jane Brock, MD, MSPH, you’ll learn:

The Readmission Care Partner sprint, provided by the Eastern U.S. Quality Improvement Collaborative (HANYS Hospital Quality Improvement Contractor), allows hospitals to engage in an improvement project focused on the development or enhancement of their care partner programs. This comprehensive clinical delivery program supports hospitals and systems in operationalizing patient-centered care and the engagement of the patient and care partners throughout the hospital stay and beyond.