October 4, 2016
Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks to continue patient safety improvement efforts started under the Partnership for Patients initiative
(Helena, Mont.) – Mountain-Pacific Quality Health will partner as a subcontractor for Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) of the American Hospital Association, which has been selected as one of 16 national, regional or state hospital associations, quality improvement organizations and health system organizations as a prime contractor to continue efforts in reducing preventable hospital-acquired conditions and readmissions for the states of Montana and Wyoming. The awarded Hospital Improvement Innovation Network contracts build upon the collective momentum of the hospital engagement networks and quality improvement organizations to support hospitals’ efforts to provide the safest and best possible care for their patients. This announcement is part of a broader effort to transform our nation’s health care system into one that works better for the American people and for the Medicare program.
Health Research and Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association will participate actively as a Hospital Improvement Innovation Network to continue working to improve patient care in the hospital setting. Mountain-Pacific will be able to support these efforts due to its well established relationships with many of Montana and Wyoming’s hospitals.
“Mountain-Pacific staff is committed to continuing the great work that began with the ‘Partnership for Patients’ initiative several years ago,” says Sara Medley, Mountain-Pacific’s CEO. “We congratulate the staff of the Health Research and Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association for securing funding for this critically important initiative that will benefit so many in the communities we serve.”
Through 2019, Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks will work to achieve a 20 percent decrease in overall patient harm and a 12 percent reduction in 30-day hospital readmissions as a population-based measure (readmissions per 1,000 people) from the 2014 baseline. Efforts to address health equity for Medicare beneficiaries will be central to the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks efforts. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will monitor and evaluate the activities of the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks to ensure they are generating results and improving patient safety.
“We have made significant progress in keeping patients safe – an estimated 2.1 million fewer patients harmed, 87,000 lives saved, and nearly $20 billion in cost-savings from 2010 to 2014 – and we are focused on accelerating improvement efforts,” said Patrick Conway, M.D., CMS acting principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer. “The work of the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks will allow us to continue to improve health care safety across the nation and reduce readmissions at a national scale – keeping people as safe and healthy as possible.”
Mountain-Pacific is one of 14 Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organizations (QIN-QIOs) in the country and holds federal and state contracts to oversee the quality of care for Medicare and Medicaid members. Mountain-Pacific works within its region (Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific Territories of Guam and American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) to help improve the delivery of health care and the systems that provide it. Mountain-Pacific’s goal is to increase access to high-quality health care that is affordable, safe and of value to the patients they serve.
The Partnership for Patients model is one of the first models established in 2011 to be tested under the authority of section 1115A of the Social Security Act (the Act) with the goal of reducing program expenditures while preserving or enhancing the quality of care. Since the launch of the Partnership for Patients and the work of Hospital Engagement Networks in collaboration with many other stakeholders, the vast majority of U.S. hospitals have delivered results as demonstrated by the achievement of unprecedented national reductions in harm. CMS believes that the upcoming work of the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks, working as part of the Quality Improvement Organization’s work to improve patient safety and the quality of care in the Medicare program, will continue the great strides made in improving care provided to beneficiaries.
For more information on the Partnership for Patients and the Hospital Improvement Innovation Networks, please visit: partnershipforpatients.cms.gov. For more information about Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, please visit: www.mpqhf.org.