National Quality Strategy Priorities in Action Features School-Based Health Centers in Connecticut
The latest edition of the National Quality Strategy Priorities in Actionfeatures the Connecticut Association of School Based Health Centers, an advocacy and networking organization committed to increasing access to quality health care for children and adolescents in Connecticut schools. The state’s 88 school-based health centers (SBHCs) provide physical, mental and oral health services to more than 44,000 students in 22 Connecticut communities each year and have become a key part of Connecticut's comprehensive coordinated care system for children and adolescents. In the case of children and adolescents insured by Medicaid, each visit to an SBHC saves an estimated $35 in Medicaid costs per child per year. The program’s efforts align with National Quality Strategy priorities by promoting the delivery of person- and family-centered care in schools with the most effective prevention and treatment practices for obesity. The SBHCs work with communities to promote wide use of best practices to enable healthy living and make quality care affordable. The National Quality Strategy, first published in March 2011, was mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. It is led by AHRQ on behalf of HHS.
Priorities in Action
Priorities in Action features some of our nation's most promising and transformative quality improvement programs, and describes their alignment to the NQS' six priorities. Updated monthly, these programs represent private sector, Federal, State, and local efforts.
We want to hear from you! If your program aligns with the priorities, email NQStrategy@ahrq.hhs.gov with details.
Inclusion in the Priorities in Action program listing does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
To expand/collapse the full description of any program below, please select the link labeled (more...).
The Connecticut Association of School Based Health Centers is an advocacy and networking organization committed to increasing access to quality health care for all children and adolescents in Connecticut schools. Connecticut's school based health centers (SBHCs) have delivered comprehensive health care in schools—where students spend 25 percent of their day—for 27 years.Connecticut Association of School Based Health Centers (more...)
In Minnesota and nationally, the two largest causes of chronic disease and premature death are (1) obesity caused by poor nutrition and insufficient physical activity and (2) commercial tobacco use. The Statewide Health Improvement Program addresses this issue by preventing disease before it starts by helping create healthier communities that support individuals seeking to make healthy choices in their daily lives.
The California Quality Collaborative (CQC) is a health care improvement organization comprising approximately 300 purchasers, providers, health plans, and patient advocacy organizations dedicated to improving health care delivery for 7 million Californians. CQC offers a host of health care improvement programs, ranging from quality improvement training for physicians and hospitals to topical collaboratives centered on disseminating best practices in chronic care and readmissions.
Established in 2000, the Oregon Healthcare Quality Corporation is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality and affordability of health care in Oregon by leading community collaborations and producing unbiased public reporting information. The Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation works with the members of the community—including consumers, providers, employers, policymakers, and health insurers—to improve the health of all Oregonians and finds solutions to Oregon's health care challenges, such as reducing unnecessary emergency department visits.
In 2007, northeast Ohio health care systems, health plans, employer groups, and community organizations established Better Health Greater Cleveland to improve health and health care while reducing costs. The collaborative develops and disseminates evidence-based care transformation strategies focused on primary care for chronic conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart failure. Across the region, the collaborative's programs have helped more than 700 primary care providers from 12 health care systems adopt patient-centered models of care, use electronic health records more effectively, and regularly measure care to identify opportunities to continuously improve.
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The Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children is a nationally recognized pioneer, incubator, and disseminator of evidence-based treatments and best practices in the field of early childhood development, prevention of emotional or behavioral disorders, and intervention. The Lourie Center seeks to improve the social and emotional health of young children and families through prevention, early intervention, education, research and training. The Lourie Center serves 4,000 children and families in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Approximately 80 percent of the families it serves are enrolled in Medicaid. The Center's programs are designed to strengthen families, help young children and parents/caregivers develop increasingly secure relationships, and support the social and emotional competencies needed for success in life.
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The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) is a voluntary, statewide consortium of physician groups, hospitals, health plans, and employers working together to improve health and the quality and affordability of health care in Wisconsin. WCHQ members publicly report an agreed-upon set of performance measures related to the services that they provide, enabling the collaborative to produce comparative reports on health care quality and patient experience. As a result, practices are able to identify areas for improvement within their own organization and build the capacity to do so through the forums convened and facilitated by the Collaborative to share successes and challenges with others.
Studies by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have shown that the sickest 5 percent of U.S. patients account for over half of the country's health care costs. These "high utilizers" often suffer from multiple chronic conditions and take many medications. The Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers (CCHP) provides a model for effective, efficient care for the highest utilizers in the community it serves, improving the health of the community while reducing the cost of care. The CCHP has accomplished this by identifying high utilizers through analyzing local claims data and providing them with well-coordinated care through a personalized care management system. By combining typical health care services such as primary care and chronic care management with social support and behavioral health interventions, the CCHP addresses the full spectrum of factors that influence health.
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The Colorado Beacon Consortium brings together physician leaders, hospitals, a community-based health information exchange, and a local payer to develop and implement new ways to improve the quality and patient experience of health care while controlling costs. The region-wide alliance strengthens the existing health information technology infrastructure and advances patient-centered primary care, to provide better care for the 320,000 patients the Consortium serves.
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Launched in 2000, the Healthy Hawaii Initiative is a statewide effort to prevent and control chronic disease, extend and increase the quality of Hawaiians' years of life, and address health disparity. The program targets behavior change at the individual level, and addresses the social determinants of health that are influenced by organizations and the community. The initiative is made up of five interrelated components that promote healthy and active living among Hawaii's 1.4 million residents, targeting schools, community organizations, and organizations involved in public and professional education. The program also works to improve detection, treatment, and management of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and asthma.
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In 2003, the Michigan Health and Hospital Association (MHA) Keystone Center, with funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), organized a large-scale collaboration effort among Michigan's health and health care stakeholders, including hospitals, State government, payers, and employers. With these partners, the MHA Keystone Center forged evidence-based solutions that improve the quality of care offered to Michigan's residents. Many of the patient safety interventions developed by the MHA Keystone Center are now being used throughout the nation and around the world.
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The New York State Health Foundation's Diabetes Campaign, "Reversing the Trend," seeks to address one of the State's most pervasive epidemics—diabetes. Nearly 10 percent of New Yorkers—or 1.4 million—are afflicted with this disease, and almost 4 million more suffer from prediabetes, causing harm to a significant portion of the State's population. Additionally, diabetes costs the State almost $13 billion a year in health care costs and productivity losses. The New York State Health Foundation, or NYSHealth, developed a three-pronged strategy to attack diabetes: (1) improve the way New York physicians treat chronic disease, (2) develop community-based prevention and management initiatives, and (3) progressively transform the chronic care system to a pay-for-performance mode.
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The Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC), organized by the Health Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA, improves health care quality by providing patients suffering from complex conditions with evidence-based clinical pharmacy services. Now in its fifth year, PSPC works with teams of community health care providers to advance their medication and care management systems and improve patient safety.
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The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model holds promise as a means to improve health and health care in America by transforming how primary care is organized, delivered, and funded. Building on the work of a large and growing community, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) envisions the PCMH as a model of primary care that delivers patient–centered, high–quality care safely and efficiently through improved communication and coordination.
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Initiated in late 2009, this grant-funded program seeks to help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic, especially in lower-income communities and in populations at greatest risk. It provides four years of grant funding and technical assistance to 49 multidisciplinary partnerships across the country to implement policies, systems, and environmental change strategies to create sustainable community change.
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In 2010, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) launched the Flex Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Program to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries served by critical access hospitals (CAHs). CAHs are rural community hospitals that have 25 or fewer inpatient beds, are at least 35 miles from another facility or are designated as a necessary providers, and receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare and, in some states, Medicaid. This program helps CAHs prioritize quality measurement and improvement despite their limited resources and staff. In the post-health reform environment, CAHs may soon be compared with their urban counterparts to ensure public confidence in their quality of health services. This initiative enables CAHs to demonstrate the quality of care they provide.
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