CSI-RI Practice Newsletter: October 15, 2013

Practice Newsletter - October 15, 2013

Rhode Island Chronic Care Sustainability Initiative

In case you missed it:

Patient-centered medical home initiative expands

By Richard Asinof

Providence - The Rhode Island Chronic Care Sustainability Initiative has expanded to include an additional 20 practices, increasing the number of patients served to more than 260,000 Rhode Islanders in a patient-centered medical home model, according to initiative officials.

Read the full article here.

Upcoming events:

Asthma Educator Institute

Oct. 24-25 (register here by 10/17)

A prep course for the National Asthma Ed. Cert. Board exam

Upcoming Meetings:

10/17, 7:30-9am @ RIQI: Practice Transformation Committee-best practice sharing with Justin Nash on behavioral health integration

10/18, 10-11:30am @ RIQI: Patient Advisory Group planning (patients welcome)

10/21, 7-8:30am @ S. County Hospital: S. County Steering Committee (open to S. County practices)

10/21, 10am-2pm @ Healthcentric Advisors: Community Health Team Learning Collaborative (RSVP required due to space)

10/22, 8-9:30am @ RIPCPC (1150 New London Ave., Cranston): Practice Reporting Committee (Required meeting for all CSI practices)

10/24, 7:30-9am @ RIQI: Contracting Committee (Health plans and CSI practices)

10/24, 8-9:30am OR 3:30-5pm, location TBD: State Health Innovation Plan will be presented (same presentation given at each meeting time)

10/24, 6-7:30pm @ RIQI: Provider Best Practice Session-RIPCPC to speak on their behavioral health referral system

10/25, 7:30-9am @ Coastal Hillside: Executive Committee (Committee members only)

10/25 from 9:30-11am, location TBD: Community Health Team planning meeting (Committee members only)

CSI-Rhode Island | 508-856-4270 | catherine.sampson@umassmed.edu | www.pcmhri.org

333 South Street
Office of Program Development
Shrewsbury, MA 01545

Welcome to the Rhode Island Chronic Care Sustainability Initiative Practice Newsletter, a tool CSI-RI will use to share exciting updates, news, milestones, meeting information and more with CSI-RI practices.

Partners in Best Practices

The CSI-RI "Partners in Best Practice Plan" provides each practice site with an opportunity to develop its own plan to build capacity, improve performance in one of the CSI-RI Contract Target areas, and/or provide a mentoring support for another CSI-RI practice. New and existing practices can use funds to build capacity through staff training or identify another CSI-RI practice to partner with for practice improvement. The Partnering Site will work collaboratively with the Requesting Site according to the jointly created plan.

Practices (per practice site) can receive up to $500 in funding now through March 31, 2014. For more information click here.

CMS: 2013-2014 eHealth Programs

CMS recently published a timeline with milestones for being eligible to achieve financial incentives or avoid financial adjustments for meeting electronic health record reporting requirements. The document also contains resource information with more detailed information for reference. Take a look to make sure your practice is on track for the programs relevant to your practice setting. Access the timeline here.

JAMA publishes CSI-RI data

JAMA recently published a report by Meredith B. Rosenthal, PhD, with the Harvard School of Public Health, highlighting CSI-RI pilot data. Dr. Rosenthal evaluated the first two years of the CSI-RI pilot program with our 5 pilot sites.

The JAMA report shows CSI-RI practice improvement in meeting NCQA criteria pre-post implementation (e.g. care management); improved provider and staff satisfaction; and small but significant reduction in ambulatory sensitive emergency department visits.

Access the report here.

CSI-RI Practice Spotlight: Blackstone Valley Community Health Care

HIMSS Analytics recently announced that Blackstone Valley Community Health Care (BVCHC) in Pawtucket, RI achieved Stage 6 on the EMR Adoption Model. The Ambulatory EMR Adoption Model was developed as a methodology for evaluating the progress and impact of electronic medical record systems for ambulatory facilities in the HIMSS Analytics™ Database.

A few highlights of Stage 6 ambulatory facilities include:

Have almost fully automated/paperless medical records when they have implemented their IT applications across most of the outpatient care settings.

Have made investments that are within reach of most ambulatories and recognize the strategic value of improving patient care with the EMR.

Are well positioned to provide data to key stakeholders, such as payers, the government, physicians, consumers, and employers, to support electronic health record environments and health information exchanges.

BVCHC attributes this success to "the diligence of its entire staff and their willingness to embark upon a continuous learning journey consisting of training, upgrades, more training, addition of new components, and more training." For more details on BVCHC's achievement, click here.