Pharmacy quality improvement experts at IPRO have created and field tested a unique audit tool aimed at reducing anticoagulant-related adverse drug events (ADEs) during care transitions. National estimates suggest that ADEs account for 700,000 emergency department visits and 120,000 hospitalizations annually, and The Department of Health and Human Services’ recently released National Action Plan for… Continue Reading
IPRO Researchers Examine Warfarin Safety
New regulations and reimbursement changes may be necessary in view of findings of sub-optimal management of nursing homes patients receiving warfarin and interacting antibiotics simultaneously, according to a new study by pharmacy experts at IPRO. Researchers examined warfarin management at 12 randomly selected long-term care facilities and found timely International Normalized Ratio (INR) testing in… Continue Reading
Feds Issue Million Hearts Hypertension Challenge
Government-operated as well as private sector practices, clinics and health systems are eligible to enter the 2014 Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Challenge, which will recognize practices with a minimum of 500 adult patients annually that can achieve a 12-month control rate of at least 70% of its hypertensive patient population. Practices will need to submit to a… Continue Reading
World Thrombosis Day is October 13
World Thrombosis Day is October 13 Public health experts have organized an inaugural World Thrombosis Day for October 13, with an initial focus on venous thromboembolism (VTE), described as among the most serious and common thromboembolic conditions. In the U.S., an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 individuals die each year from VTE and VTE is associated… Continue Reading
Maryland Contractor Handles New York Case Review
Maryland-based contractor Livanta LLC is now responsible for reviewing Medicare quality-of-care complaints and discontinuance of service appeals lodged by New York seniors and their families. Under a re-structuring that took effect August 1, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created regional Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organizations (QIN-QIOs), responsible for working collaboratively with providers… Continue Reading
IPRO Report Shows Quality Gains
Recent enhancements in healthcare quality for New York’s Medicare beneficiaries are detailed in IPRO’s new Medicare Quality Improvement Report. The report covers clinical areas in which the state’s healthcare providers worked with IPRO over a three-year period that ended July 31, 2014. One major area of IPRO’s focus has been in working with New York… Continue Reading
IPRO Wins New 5-Year Medicare Contract
IPRO has won an historic, five-year award as the Medicare-funded Quality Innovation Network (QIN) contractor for the states of New York and South Carolina and for the District of Columbia. Under a new arrangement that began August 1, state-based Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) have been replaced by regional QIN contractors, focusing on hospital and nursing… Continue Reading
IPRO Announces Quality Award Winners
Eight individual New York healthcare providers and groups of providers— including all 11 hospitals of New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation and one group of 28 Capital District healthcare—have been named recipients of the 2014 IPRO Quality Awards. The awards, given annually by IPRO, recognize organizations and professionals that demonstrate a commitment to improving… Continue Reading
Feds Restructure Medicare QIO Activities
CMS has restructured the QIO Program from its previous 53 contracts, in which each QIO performed both case review and quality improvement support for each state or territory. Now, there is a regional structure for case review and an industry-determined service structure for quality improvement initiatives. In the new structure, case review and quality improvement… Continue Reading
Trade Group Hails Latest QIO Impact Data
The Washington DC-based American Health Quality Association (AHQA) is hailing new findings from the federal government demonstrating that Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs)—working in close partnership with providers, federal, state and private partners, and others in local communities—have prevented more than 95,000 hospitalizations and 27,000 hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries. From October 2010 to March 2013,… Continue Reading