The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) will host an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) webinar July 8 on engaging primary care practices in quality improvement. Primary care can be considered the cornerstone of effective and efficient health care that meets the needs of patients, families, and communities. New resources authored by AHRQ and Mathematica Policy Research offer strategies to help build and sustain practices’ ability to continuously and effectively engage in quality improvement (QI) activities.
The Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI) grant awards, announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last month, aims to equip more than 140,000 clinicians with the tools and support needed to improve quality of care, increase patients’ access to information, and reduce costs.
Primary care teams, providing comprehensive care within a patient-centered medical home, have the clinical competencies, infrastructure, and relationships necessary to improve oral health and reduce oral health disparities. Yet few primary care practices include oral health as a component of routine medical care. The new Oral Health Delivery Framework delineates the oral health activities for which a primary care team could take accountability.
As patients increasingly encounter rising costs for health care services, there are new opportunities for clinicians to work with patients to understand how informed referrals and shared decision making can improve the patient experience. Too often clinicians don't have information on the relative cost of health care services or facilities. In an effort to work toward standardization and to enable comparisons,the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) recently completed an 18 month pilot to produce total cost of care and resource use data in 5 regions.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has focused their 2015 advocacy efforts on a bill called the Caregiver Advise, Record and Enable (CARE) Act in efforts to improve patient care at home. The CARE Act outlines a process by which a family can choose a designated caregiver for a loved one, where a Hospital then has the responsibility to instruct and demonstrate how to perform different medical tasks and give proper care.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has developed an extensive collection of resources for the primary care community to use in research and evaluation, quality improvement, and the delivery of improved primary care services. On May 21 at 1 p.m. EST, Janice Genevro, PhD, a health scientist at AHRQ, will join the PCPCC's National Briefing to provide an exploration of the PCMH Resource Center web site and other AHRQ resources designed to support the delivery of evidence-based, patient-centered primary care.
Last month, Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, launched the Health Care Value Hub, a networking and resource center for advocates working for lower costs and better value in health care. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Health Care Value Hub will support and connect consumer advocates across the United States, providing comprehensive, research-based information and tools to help them advocate for policies that reduce health care costs and increase quality.
