|
Andy,
This message is in follow up to my July 19th
message on the CMS funding of the Partnership for Patients
project.
As you may be aware, CMS has allocated $500 million to achieve a 40%
reduction in preventable harms to patients in hospitals as well as a 20
percent decrease in avoidable readmissions. This money is being
awarded to Hospital Engagement Contractors, who will be supporting hospital
efforts to achieve these goals. OAHHS is partnering with the Health
Research and Educational Trust (HRET), the research and educational arm of
the American Hospital Association, to submit a proposal to become a
Hospital Engagement Contractor.
Our ability to obtain this funding is dependent on having hospitals
willing to partner with us on this project. Resources we obtain will
go to supporting quality improvement projects that target the following
issues: CLABSI, CAUTI, adverse drug events, falls and immobility,
obstetrical harms, pressure ulcers, surgical site infections, VTE, VAP, and
preventable readmissions. We are already working with you on a
number of these issues and hope to obtain resources that would allow us to
expand these efforts.
As a part of our proposal we need to provide CMS with the names of
hospitals that have expressed interest in working with us if we are awarded
a Hospital Engagement Contract. Because the proposal is due on Aug 5,
there is virtually no time to obtain the types of formal commitments that
you often provide. We also can’t provide you with a clear and
precisely defined explanation of how the entire initiative will work.
But we can provide a general explanation of what you’ll be asked to do and
the advantages of participating.
What You’ll be Asked to Do:
- Complete an informal needs assessment to identify
which of the 10 topics mentioned above are not relevant for you, which
you may get some limited benefit from (e.g. areas where you have few
cases or where your rates are already quite good), and which 2-3 areas
would be worth working on more extensively.
- Over the next two-three years, participate in
quality improvement activities that are focused on the highest
priority areas and receive information and resources for the remaining
areas that are relevant to you.
- Provide quarterly data to a data repository for one
process measure and one outcome measure for each of the relevant topic
areas. This data will not be publicly reported or used by CMS in
any way that affects payment or accreditation status.
- Share your challenges and lessons learned with
other hospitals working on the same areas that you are.
Why You Should Consider Doing this:
- It is consistent with your mission of providing the
highest quality, safest, and most efficient care to each of your
patients.
- It will provide you with free quality improvement
resources relevant to important clinical issues. CMS is already
linking payment to some hospital acquired conditions and preventable
outcomes. Improving in these ten areas will prepare you for a
future in which these complications may also affect payments you
receive.
- It will allow you to obtain public recognition for
the improvement activities you are engaged in. CMS intends to
publicize the list of participating hospitals; we expect other
organizations also will want to recognize which hospitals have
committed to participate in this project.
- It will obtain additional resources for improvement
efforts within our state. CMS intends to provide more resources
to hospital engagement contractors that are working with more
hospitals. So the more hospitals in Oregon that participate in
this initiative, the more resources we will have to support quality
improvement efforts for you.
What’s the Next Step:
If you are willing to consider participating in this effort, all we need
from you right now is an email expressing this willingness. This will
not create any binding obligation on your part, but we expect that any
hospital that indicates they are willing to consider participating will
participate in a call we will host after the contract is awarded where we
can provide the level of detail that will enable you to make an informed
choice about your involvement.
If you are willing to consider participating, please send an email to
Diane Waldo at diane.waldo@oahhs.org
I must receive
this email by COB on July 29th so
that your hospital can be included in our list of potential
participants. I apologize for the short notice. If you have
questions, please contact me by email or directly at 503.479.6016.
SAMPLE LETTER
If you are willing to consider participating, I would also welcome
a letter from you on your organization’s letterhead. A template for
this letter is shown below.
<Your Organizational Letterhead>
Diane Waldo, Director of Quality and Clinical Services
Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems
4000 Kruse Way Place
#2-100
Lake Oswego, OR 97035
Dear Diane:
<Insert hospital name> is
committed to providing the highest quality care for each of our
patients. We support the Partnership for Patients goal of reducing
avoidable harms and preventable admissions in our facility. Because
of this, we welcome the opportunity to partner with OAHHS on this
important project.
We understand that participation will require that we assess our need
for improvements in ten priority areas identified by CMS. This
assessment will be followed by actively participating in quality improvement
activities designed to improve care in these areas. We also will
submit information about each targeted area that will enable OAHHS to see
whether we are changing our processes and improving targeted outcomes.
Because details for this initiative are still lacking, we look forward
to learning more about this initiative. However, we have worked with
OAHHS on previous successful quality improvement projects in the past and
are confident that this effort will be a valuable one for our organization
and our patients.
Yours truly,
<sign
and insert signature block>
|
