Organizing for Higher Performance: Case Studies of Organized Delivery Systems

Offers lessons learned from healthcare delivery systems promoting the attributes of an ideal model as defined by the Fund: information continuity, care coordination and transitions, system accountability, teamwork, continuous innovation, and easy access

Organizing the U.S. Health Care Delivery System for High Performance

Analyzes the fragmentation of the healthcare delivery system and makes policy recommendations -- including payment reform, regulatory changes, and infrastructure -- for creating mechanisms to coordinate care across providers and settings

Complex Care Management Program Overview

This report includes brief updates on various forms of complex care management including: Aetna - Medicare Advantage Embedded Case Management ProgramBrigham and Women's Hospital - Care Management ProgramIndependent Health - Care PartnersIntermountain Healthcare and Oregon Health and Science University - Care Management PlusJohns Hopkins University - Hospital at HomeMount Sinai Medical Center -- New York - Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program/ Chelsea-Village House Calls ProgramsPartners in Care Foundation - HomeMeds ProgramPrinceton HealthCare System - Partnerships for PIECEQuality Improvement for Complex Chronic Conditions - CarePartner ProgramSenior Services - Project Enhance/EnhanceWellnessSenior Whole Health - Complex Care Management ProgramSumma Health/Ohio Department of Aging - PASSPORT Medicaid Waiver ProgramSutter Health - Sutter Care Coordination ProgramUniversity of Washington School of Medicine - TEAMcar

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation: Transforming a Public Safety Net Delivery System to Achieve Higher Performance

Describes the results of the public benefit corporation's improvement initiatives -- a common clinical information system for continuity, coordination on chronic disease management, teamwork and continuous innovation, and access to appropriate care

Hospital implementation of health information technology and quality of care: are they related?

Recently, there has been considerable effort to promote the use of health information technology (HIT) in order to improve health care quality. However, relatively little is known about the extent to which HIT implementation is associated with hospital patient care quality. We undertook this study to determine the association of various HITs with: hospital quality improvement (QI) practices and strategies; adherence to process of care measures; risk-adjusted inpatient mortality; patient satisfaction; and assessment of patient care quality by hospital quality managers and front-line clinicians.This work was supported by a grant from the Commonwealth Fund. We are indebted to Anthony Shih and Anne-Marie Audet of the Fund for their advice, support, and constructive suggestions throughout the design and conduct of the study. We thank our colleagues - Raymond Kang, Peter Kralovec, Sally Holmes, Frances Margolin, and Deborah Bohr - for their valuable contributions to the development of the QAS, the CPS, and the database on which the analytic findings reported here were based. We also thank 3 M (TM) Health Information Systems' for use of its All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APR-DRGs) software. We especially wish to thank Jennifer Drake for her contributions not only to survey development, but also to earlier analysis of survey findings relevant to this paper. (Commonwealth Fund)Published versio

Guiding Transformation: How Medical Practices Can Become Patient-Centered Medical Homes

Describes in detail eight change concepts as a guide to transforming a practice into a patient-centered medical home, including engaged leadership, quality improvement strategy, continuous and team-based healing relationships, and enhanced access

Committed to Safety: Ten Case Studies on Reducing Harm to Patients

Presents case studies of healthcare organizations, clinical teams, and learning collaborations to illustrate successful innovations for improving patient safety nationwide. Includes actions taken, results achieved, lessons learned, and recommendations

Intermountain Healthcare's McKay-Dee Hospital Center: Driving Down Readmissions by Caring for Patients the "Right Way"

Outlines the hospital's strategies for low readmission rates for heart failure and pneumonia, including standardization of care, interdisciplinary care coordination and discharge planning, and integration with community providers, and lessons learned

Carolinas Medical Center: Demonstrating High Quality in the Public Sector

Outlines safety and quality improvement strategies including electronic medical records, multi­disciplinary teams accountable to leadership, reporting of performance indicators; and redesigned care processes. Discusses physician buy-in and nurses' roles

Strengthening Primary Care: Recent Reforms and Achievements in Australia, England, and the Netherlands

Outlines efforts to enhance primary care quality and access, including postgraduate training for family physicians, general practitioner accreditation, greater use of nurse practitioners, and after-hours care; their outcomes; and insights for U.S. reform