Advancing Northeast Ohio’s Quality Improvement Efforts to Improve Health Outcomes

The Ohio Department of Medicaid has awarded funding to establish Regional Quality Improvement (QI) Hubs across the state for implementation of evidence-based best practices in healthcare systems to impact population health and improve health outcomes for the Medicaid population. In partnership with Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine (SOM) and Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), Better Health Partnership (BHP) will help advance Northeast Ohio’s quality improvement efforts by focusing on the management and reduction of adult chronic disease conditions and disparities and the dissemination of evidence-based best practices through the Ohio Cardiovascular and Diabetes Health Collaborative (Cardi-OH) also led by CWRU SOM, in partnership with the state's six other medical schools. Drs. Michael Konstan and Shari Bolen will lead the Northeast Ohio QI Hub.

In addition to providing project management support, BHP will share best practices from prior experience leading regional health improvement collaborative efforts to improve blood pressure control and diabetes care management and integrate its Adult Health Leadership Team strategies to reduce disparities in chronic disease. As shown in the graph above, the implementation of a hypertension best practice beginning in 2015 has led to improvements with blood pressure control in patients from participating Northeast Ohio health systems.

Year one funding will support the creation of the Northeast Ohio QI Hub infrastructure, followed by implementation, and spread of quality improvement best practices in years 2 – 4, to help realize improvements in population health by year 5.