ANN ARBOR — The Ann Arbor healthcare research and consulting firm Altarum Institute aid last week it will lead the Michigan arm of a three-state quality improvement effort funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network is a three-state coalition led by Indiana University and made up of 32 health care partners, including four Regional Extension Centers, three State Departments of Health, five Health Information Exchanges, and eight universities. GLPTN has an overall goal of transforming the practices of 11,500 clinical providers across the Midwest, delivering improved care at a lower cost to more than 10 million Americans.
The efforts in Michigan will focus on providing high-value, clinically relevant, and cost-efficient assistance to 4,000 clinicians. Services delivered by Altarum quality improvement advisors will consist of practice coaching and quality improvement initiatives with techniques built on the principles of implementation science, lean process improvement, and population health management. The advisors will also help physicians navigate quality reporting requirements and participate in the Physician Quality Reporting System and other value-based payment initiatives.
“This award builds on our previous work accelerating electronic health record adoption through the Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption and our work to promote clinical decision support use in Michigan physician offices,” said Dan Armijo, vice president of health innovation at Altarum. Practice-specific quality improvement priorities will be pursued to reduce unnecessary testing and avoidable hospitalizations and improve care for patients with high blood pressure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, depression, and diabetes.
GLPTN operations in Michigan will be led by Branis Pesich, director of Altarum’s Center for Appropriate Care. Working in close partnership with Altarum are the Michigan Center for Rural Health, McLaren Health Care, Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions, Wayne State University, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
More at www.altarum.org.