QIO News for Partners in Healthcare

December 2009

In This Issue

Dear Reader

Care Transitions

Prevention

Health Disparities

Quality Talk

Jean Moody-Williams, Director, Medicare Quality Improvement Group, believes this is an exciting time for health care. In this Q&A, she shares her vision for the QIO Program, its impact in the context of the changing landscape of health care, the state of the 9th SOW progress and the future of the QIO Program. [MORE]

QIO Spotlight

A round-up of QIO accomplishments, recognitions and other noteworthy happenings. [MORE]

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Dear Reader
An introduction from Barry M. Straube, CMS Chief Medical Officer and OCSQ Director Dr. Straube presents the new QIO News, which will now appear in electronic format every other month. Each issue will also feature "Quality Talk," a Q&A with a quality improvement leader. [MORE]

Care Transitions
Louisiana QIO Reduces Readmission Rates by 80 Percent with Care Transition Coaches Louisiana Health Care Review's Care Transitions Project has significantly reduced 30-day hospital readmission rates among seniors. Learn more about what transition coaches in Louisiana are doing to ensure quality and continuity of care inside and outside hospitals. [MORE]

Prevention
QIO Support Accelerates Use of EHRs for Care Management Processes Health Care Excel is helping accelerate the use of electronic health records in care management processes at Southern Indiana Health Care, boosting Orange and Crawford Counties' EHR implementation rate to 89 percent. [MORE]

Health Disparities
CMS Expands "Every Diabetic Counts" Model as Part of New Campaign in Mississippi CMS' "Every Diabetic Counts" model is used as a platform to bring together stakeholders from throughout Mississippi to launch a statewide, diabetes self-management education collaborative in a state with one of the nation's highest rates of diabetes and related conditions. [MORE]

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QIO News is a publication of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Office of Clinical Standards & Quality, and is brought to you by VHQC, the Communications QIO Support Center, under contract with CMS.