Rural health care quality resources related to rural health and human services, with information provided by the Rural Assistance Center Copyright 2010 Rural Assistance Center http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/quality/ A new Commonwealth Fund profile points to lessons for the U.S. and health care reform, reporting that all primary care doctors in Denmark use electronic medical records and 98 percent have the ability to electronically manage patient careincluding ordering prescriptions, drafting notes about patient visits, and sending appointment reminders. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/News/News-Releases/2010/Mar/100-Percent-of-Primary-Care-Doctors-in-Denmark-Use-Electronic-Medical-Records.aspx Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:51:52 CST http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/News/News-Releases/2010/Mar/100-Percent-of-Primary-Care-Doctors-in-Denmark-Use-Electronic-Medical-Records.aspx Daily Yonder article tells how Dr. Robert Bowman explains how a community solved the problems of physician recruitment and retention by seeing that the two problems are really one: how to build quality relationships. http://www.dailyyonder.com/bowman-relationship-health-care/2010/03/01/2616 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:53:21 CST http://www.dailyyonder.com/bowman-relationship-health-care/2010/03/01/2616 An alert or flagging system intended to facilitate a comprehensive review of health care practitioners professional credentials. -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/ Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:31:20 CST http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov/ AAFP News reports that although the federal government and other health care stakeholders have expressed interest in moving the nation's health care system toward a value-based system that relies on measuring the quality of health care delivered against the dollars spent to provide that care, new research suggests that this may not work well for primary care practices. http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/practice-management/20100223measure-qual-cost.html Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:46:17 CST http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/practice-management/20100223measure-qual-cost.html Funding to conduct demonstrations of (1) broad strategies and/or specific interventions for improving care by redesigning care delivery, or (2) strategies and interventions for improving care by redesigning payment. -- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=2312 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:08:58 CST http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=2312 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched the first national surveillance system to monitor adverse events in patients who receive blood transfusions. http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r100218.htm Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:43:21 CST http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r100218.htm Portland ME July 21, 2010 -- National Rural Health Association http://www.ruralhealthweb.org/go/left/programs-and-events/programs-and-events-overview/calendar-of-nrha-events Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:42:13 CST http://www.ruralhealthweb.org/go/left/programs-and-events/programs-and-events-overview/calendar-of-nrha-events Contains the American College of Physicians recommendations aimed at comprehensive reform of the payment system to physicians and that improves coordination of care across providers including rural practices. -- American College of Physicians http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/policy/reforming_pp.pdf Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:04:46 CST http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/where_we_stand/policy/reforming_pp.pdf Examines low-income parents perceptions of health care access and quality of care. -- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/49969ckfparents1009.pdf Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:36:02 CST http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/49969ckfparents1009.pdf Examines the fourth year participation and quality measure results for Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare public reporting database for hospital quality measures. -- Flex Monitoring Team http://www.flexmonitoring.org/documents/BriefingPaper22_HospitalCompare4.pdf Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:09:07 CST http://www.flexmonitoring.org/documents/BriefingPaper22_HospitalCompare4.pdf Funding to support Research Demonstration and Dissemination (R18) grant applications to implement safe practice interventions. -- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=2267 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:02:59 CST http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_details.php?funding_id=2267 Indicates that Critical Access Hospitals continue to be actively involved in a wide range of quality improvement initiatives, with patient safety and medication safety in particular as major areas of focus. -- Flex Monitoring Team http://www.flexmonitoring.org/documents/BriefingPaper18_QualityReport2007.pdf Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:20:28 CST http://www.flexmonitoring.org/documents/BriefingPaper18_QualityReport2007.pdf Details promising practices tested by nine participating health plans from the Center for Health Care Strategies: Collaborative on Improving Managed Care Quality for Youth with Serious Behavioral Health Needs. -- Annie E. Casey Foundation http://www.chcs.org/usr_doc/Improving_Medicaid_Managed_Care_for_Youth_with_Serious_Behavioral_Health_Needs_Toolkit.pdf Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:24:34 CST http://www.chcs.org/usr_doc/Improving_Medicaid_Managed_Care_for_Youth_with_Serious_Behavioral_Health_Needs_Toolkit.pdf Illustrates how Marshfield Clinic serving rural Wisconsin can improve patient outcomes andreduce costs by undertaking a population-based approach to ambulatory care managementsupported by information technology. -- Commonwealth Fund http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Case%20Study/2009/Aug/1293_McCarthy_Marshfield_case_study.pdf Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:49:57 CST http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Case%20Study/2009/Aug/1293_McCarthy_Marshfield_case_study.pdf Provides in-depth quality evaluation and improvement programs for Medicare. Offers expert consulting resources and tools to hospitals, physicians and nursing homes. http://www.ofmq.com/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:41:59 CST http://www.ofmq.com/ An interactive U.S. map to view state-specific rankings and results compared to benchmarks, and to view the number of lives and dollars each state could save by achieving benchmark levels of performance. -- Commonwealth Fund http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Charts-and-Maps/State-Scorecard-2009.aspx Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:16:46 CST http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Charts-and-Maps/State-Scorecard-2009.aspx The Dartmouth Atlas project is a funded research effort of the faculty of the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth Medical School. The Atlas project brings together researchers in diverse disciplines - including epidemiology, economics, and statistics - and focuses on the accurate description of how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. -- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/ Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:10:40 CST http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/ Provides consumers with information on how well hospitals care for patients with heart attacks, heart failure, or pneumonia. -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/ Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:47:41 CST http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/ A summary of a report on a specific quality concern - patient safety. Discusses types of errors that occur in hospitals and strategies for improving patient safety. -- Institute of Medicine http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9728 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:32:42 CST http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9728 Leaders at health care innovation organizations nationwide, including rural, share perspectives about how their centers operate, the objectives they are pursuing, and some of the challenges they face. -- California HealthCare Foundation http://www.chcf.org/documents/hospitals/InnovationCenters.pdf Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:02:58 CST http://www.chcf.org/documents/hospitals/InnovationCenters.pdf Includes a national overview of disparities in health care, including quality of care and access to health care. -- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr08/nhdr08.pdf Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:13:21 CST http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr08/nhdr08.pdf Provides reports from quality research in formats for consumers, clinicians, and policymakers. Several resources are available in Spanish. -- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:50:47 CST http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm Discusses how Medicaid and CHIP have strong foundational bases to develop policies that support medical homes and achieve the goals of quality improvement and cost containment. -- Commonwealth Fund http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Fund%20Report/2009/Jun/Building%20Medical%20Homes%20in%20State%20Medicaid%20and%20CHIP%20Programs/medicalhomesfinal_revised.pdf Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:16:50 CST http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Fund%20Report/2009/Jun/Building%20Medical%20Homes%20in%20State%20Medicaid%20and%20CHIP%20Programs/medicalhomesfinal_revised.pdf Results of a systematic review on the characteristics of community health workers (CHWs) and CHW interventions, outcomes of such interventions, costs and cost-effectiveness of CHW interventions, and characteristics of CHW training. Includes references to rural. -- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/comhealthwork/comhwork.pdf Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:39:16 CST http://www.ahrq.gov/downloads/pub/evidence/pdf/comhealthwork/comhwork.pdf This fact sheet discusses differences between groups in terms of relative rates, which is the ratio of the comparison group (e.g., Black) to a baseline group (e.g., White). -- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqrdr08/nhqrdrchild08.htm Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:15:57 CST http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqrdr08/nhqrdrchild08.htm An inventory of the measures currently being used by the Divisions in HHS for quality measurement, improvement, and reporting. -- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/hhs/hhs.index.aspx Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:40:54 CST http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/hhs/hhs.index.aspx Reports on the integration of health information technology with care delivery innovation and provider payment reform. -- Center for American Progress http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/05/pdf/health_it_execsumm.pdf Mon, 18 May 2009 15:23:12 CST http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/05/pdf/health_it_execsumm.pdf Examines why primary care can be the foundation of any health care reform effort, and howbuilding on the success of Community Health Centers could anchor primary care health access in communities that have been unable to sustain sources of stable, high quality health care. -- National Association of Community Health Centers http://www.nachc.com/client/documents/pressreleases/PrimaryCareAccessRPT.pdf Mon, 18 May 2009 14:29:38 CST http://www.nachc.com/client/documents/pressreleases/PrimaryCareAccessRPT.pdf Reviews a study exploring the relationship between cost and quality of care in more than 3,700 U.S. hospitals, including rural hospitals, treating Medicare patients. -- Commonwealth Fund http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/28/3/897?ijkey=TNmS/.JXdeRXk&keytype=ref&siteid=healthaff Mon, 11 May 2009 11:24:12 CST http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/28/3/897?ijkey=TNmS/.JXdeRXk&keytype=ref&siteid=healthaff A comprehensive national overview of the quality of health care in the United States. Includes measures of effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness. -- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr08/nhqr08.pdf Wed, 06 May 2009 11:24:02 CST http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr08/nhqr08.pdf