Recent Results

Physician practices harness the power of electronic health records. VHQC recently assisted more than 20 small and mid-sized primary care practices in selecting, implementing and optimizing EHR systems. With onsite consultation from us that included workflow analysis, these physicians not only made EHRs an integral part of the patient care process, they also were the first in the nation to report data electronically to Medicare's clinical data warehouse.

We currently are working with another group of primary care practices to help them use EHRs for tracking preventive services, generating clinical reminders at the point of care, identifying patients who have not received preventive services, and triggering alerts about potential drug interactions. As the Quality Improvement Organization Support Center for Medicare's prevention theme, we are providing the country's 53 QIOs with strategies and tools for conducting similar EHR projects.

Nursing homes build quality improvement skills, provide better care. In a successful, three-year project, VHQC taught nursing home staff how to collect data, set improvement goals and implement interventions targeting clinical topics. As a group, the 40 participating facilities posted results that were 35% better than Medicare's national average reduction in pressure ulcer rates and 37% better than its national average reduction in physical restraint rates.

Some nursing homes also decreased nurse aide turnover and increased resident satisfaction as a result of our assistance implementing strategies for person-centered care. We now are working with a new group of facilities to prevent and treat pressure ulcers and reduce physical restraints.