Meaningful Transformation - A blog from Elsevier CPM Resource Center

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Is it March Already?

by Michelle Troseth

With this past week’s HIMSS and ENA leadership conference, I don’t know where the year has gone.  With all of the travel I find myself on, it seems harder and harder to carve out time to get my blog thoughts down.  However, I do enjoy this uninterrupted time in front of my computer to write what I see are some important changes and work happening in healthcare today.

Over the past two months, we’ve been exploring the Measures for Use in establishing Quality Performance Standards that Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) must meet for shared savings.  Last month, we discussed the Patient/Caregiver experience and this month I want us to explore the Care Coordination/Patient Safety area.

This section still lies in the aim of Better Care for Individuals and has six tenets which must be followed:

  1. Risk-Standardized, All Condition Readmission
  2. Ambulatory Sensitive Conditions Admissions:  Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  3. Ambulatory Sensitive Conditions Admissions:  Congestive Heart Failure
  4. Percent of PCPs who successfully qualify for an EHR Incentive Program Payment
  5. Medication Reconciliation:  Reconciliation After Discharge from an Inpatient Facility
  6. Falls: Screening for Fall Risk

As we start to look into the next section of Better Health for Populations, the above listed areas are all in the reporting stage and will switch to the performance stage in year 2 and year 3.  With AONE’s upcoming conference in March, Elsevier CPM and our other business units will be talking with conference attendees and sharing client stories on what success looks like for these measure titles.

Please feel free to comment on your own successes below, or post on our Twitter or Facebook accounts.

Thank you for all that you do for health care and I look forward to seeing everyone during my conference and speaking travels.

Posted in: Accountable Care Organizations, Meaningful Use 0 comments

Oh How the Year Flies By

by Michelle Troseth

As we prepare for the upcoming spring conference season, I am excited to see Elsevier CPM is making great strides with our business and client partners.  This quarter, we plan to be working with our consortium members on making better our CarePoints product and more importantly, making better the care we deliver to all patients.

Last month, I promised we would be delving into the 33 Accountable Care Organization (ACO) requirements that CMS put out this year in an effort to gain shared savings from its participating hospitals.  This month, we’ll be looking at the Patient/Caregiver experience and what the seven (7) standards under the better care for individuals aim is looking to accomplish.

  1. Getting Timely Care, Appointments and Information
  2. How Well your Doctors Communicate
  3. Patients’ Rating of Doctor
  4. Access to Specialists
  5. Health Promotion and Education
  6. Shared Decision Making
  7. Health Status/Functional Status

Each of these standards are scored with a Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey (CAHPS).  These surveys, formally known as the Consumer Assessment of Health plans have both a print and web based option to help health systems provide what’s best for patients.

Some of the sample areas health systems can explore to meet this criteria are:

  • Helpfulness of provider’s use of computers during a visit
  • Getting timely answers to medical questions by e-mail
  • Helpfulness of provider’s website in giving information about care and tests
  • Getting timely appointments through e-mail or a website

While these survey items only scratch the surface of what can and should be done to meet these standards, at least it gives organizations a jumping off point to help get them started in meeting their savings requirements.

Good luck in starting down this road.  CPM looks forward to helping be a part of your journey.  Tune in next month as we examine the Care Coordination/Patient Safety sections of the ACO performance standards.

Posted in: Accountable Care Organizations 0 comments

Happy 2012 to Everyone

by Michelle Troseth

Looking ahead in this year, I am excited to have had the chance to examine the Medicare measures for use in establishing quality performance standards that Accountable Care Organizations must meet for shared shavings.  These 33 separate and equal requirements are broken down into two areas:  Better Care for Individuals and Better Care for Populations.  Seeing these from afar, it can be a bit to digest, so I wanted to help everybody to take a deep breath as we dive in to dissect this opportunity.

The guidelines are segmented into eight (8) domains:

  • Patient/Caregiver Experience (7 measures)
  • Care Coordination/Patient Safety (6 measures)
  • Preventive Health (8 measures)
  • At Risk Population – Diabetes (6 measures)
  • At Risk Population – Hypertension (1 measure)
  • At Risk Population – Ischemic Vascular Disease (2 measures)
  • At Risk Population – Heart Failure (1 measure)
  • At Risk Population – Coronary Artery Disease (2 measures).

Our 2012 blog discussions and educational opportunities will focus on these guidelines.  I and our other specialists will be working to help create understanding on what health systems need to do in order to be compliant with these new regulations.   We welcome your comments, questions and opinions as we all venture on this new journey together.

Michelle

Posted in: Accountable Care Organizations, Quality 0 comments