PRHI concludes five-year Quality Innovation Network contract

The Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative has concluded its five-year Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization subcontract with Quality Insights, successfully engaging 8,480 participants across five states in quality improvement education.

Quality Insight's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services contract aimed to reduce health disparities, promote chronic disease management, and lower costs across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, and Louisiana. As a subcontractor, PRHI leveraged its expertise in data-driven quality improvement through its Lean-based Perfecting Patient Care^SM curriculum, as well as its web-based quality improvement education and collaboration tool, Tomorrow's HealthCare™ (THC).

JHF President and CEO Karen Wolk Feinstein congratulates staff on QIN grant conclusion.

Tomorrow's HealthCare created active virtual learning communities for providers to share best practices and resources, further their education, and receive virtual technical assistance.

"This was a great opportunity for us to use the Tomorrow's HealthCare platform to help thousands of providers across five states tap into resources that enabled them to improve the quality of the care and outcomes, " said Nancy Zionts, JHF's Chief Operating Officer and Chief Program Officer. "We brought the talent and experience together to create an online portal with a single login, making it easy for providers to access information in the course of their daily work. It's been really gratifying to see the high levels of utilization."

The QIN contract outlined seven initial tasks related to cardiac health, diabetes, Health Information Technology (HIT)/Regional Extension Centers (RECs), hospital infection, nursing homes, care coordination, and value-based quality reporting.

The learning modules on THC were revamped for the QIN project, with Lean-specific training offered in a variety of formats including videos, webinars, and podcasts to accommodate different learning styles. The QIN team alsodeveloped extensive accredited subject matter resources and task-specific learning communities where providers can get advice from peers and mentors.

While the contract has concluded, the THC platform continues to provide support to other JHF/PRHI projects including RAVEN, Patient Centered Medical Homes, and PA Centers of Excellence, among others.